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Fencer Vulns
high 7.5

CVE-2023-23918 json

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Node.js <19.6.1, <18.14.1, <16.19.1 and <14.21.3 that made it possible to bypass the experim…

published 2023-02-23 3 y ago modified 2026-10-24 15 d ago also BIT-node-2023-23918 , BIT-node-min-2023-23918 , EUVD-2023-28000

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.0%
EPSS 2.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 81%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Node.js <19.6.1, <18.14.1, <16.19.1 and <14.21.3 that made it possible to bypass the experimental Permissions (https://nodejs.org/api/permissions.html) feature in Node.js and access non authorized modules by using process.mainModule.require(). This only affects users who had enabled the experimental permissions option with --experimental-policy.

Patch / fix

  • bitnami node 14.21.3, 16.19.1, 18.14.1, 19.6.1
  • bitnami node-min 14.21.3, 16.19.1, 18.14.1, 19.6.1
  • NodeJS Node 14.21.3, 16.19.1, 18.14.1, 19.6.1
  • nodejs Debian 12 18.19.0+dfsg-6~deb12u1
  • nodejs Debian 14, Debian 13 18.19.0+dfsg-2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2023-23918

  • npm RHEL 9 1:9.5.0-1.18.14.2.2.module+el9.2.0.z+18497+a402347c
  • nodejs RHEL 9 1:18.14.2-2.module+el9.2.0.z+18497+a402347c
  • nodejs-nodemon RHEL 9 2.0.20-2.module+el9.2.0.z+18497+a402347c
  • nodejs-full-i18n RHEL 9 1:18.14.2-2.module+el9.2.0.z+18497+a402347c
  • nodejs-packaging RHEL 9 2021.06-4.module+el9.1.0+15718+e52ec601
  • nodejs-packaging-bundler RHEL 9 2021.06-4.module+el9.1.0+15718+e52ec601
  • npm RHEL 8 1:9.5.0-1.18.14.2.2.module+el8.7.0+18445+9493b6ea
  • nodejs RHEL 8 1:18.14.2-2.module+el8.7.0+18445+9493b6ea

red hat advisories RHSA-2023:2654RHSA-2023:1583RHSA-2023:1582RHSA-2023:1743RHSA-2023:1742RHSA-2023:1533

  • nodejs12 SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES for SAP 15 SP2, SLES 15 SP3-LTSS +8 more 12.22.12-150200.4.50.1
  • nodejs18 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 15 SP4, openSUSE Leap 15.4 18.14.2-150400.9.6.2
  • nodejs18 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 12 18.14.2-8.6.2
  • nodejs14 SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES for SAP 15 SP2, SLES 15 SP3-LTSS +8 more 14.21.3-150200.15.43.1
  • nodejs16 SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES 15 SP3-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS +3 more 16.19.1-150300.7.18.1
  • nodejs16 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 12 16.19.1-8.24.1
  • nodejs16 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 15 SP4, openSUSE Leap 15.4 16.19.1-150400.3.15.1
  • nodejs14 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 12 14.21.3-6.40.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2023:3455-1SUSE-SU-2023:0738-1SUSE-SU-2023:0715-1SUSE-SU-2023:0674-1SUSE-SU-2023:0673-1SUSE-SU-2023:0609-1

  • nodejs18 openSUSE Tumbleweed 18.14.2-1.1
  • nodejs19 openSUSE Tumbleweed 19.7.0-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:12725-1openSUSE-SU-2024:12726-1

  • npm AlmaLinux 9 1:9.5.0-1.18.14.2.2.module_el9.2.0+29+de583a0b
  • nodejs AlmaLinux 9 1:18.14.2-2.module_el9.2.0+29+de583a0b
  • nodejs-nodemon AlmaLinux 9 2.0.20-2.module_el9.2.0+29+de583a0b
  • nodejs-full-i18n AlmaLinux 9 1:18.14.2-2.module_el9.2.0+29+de583a0b
  • nodejs-packaging AlmaLinux 9 2021.06-4.module_el9.1.0+13+d9a595ea
  • nodejs-packaging-bundler AlmaLinux 9 2021.06-4.module_el9.1.0+13+d9a595ea
  • nodejs AlmaLinux 9 1:16.19.1-1.el9_2
  • npm AlmaLinux 9 1:8.19.3-1.16.19.1.1.el9_2

almalinux advisories ALSA-2023:2654ALSA-2023:2655ALSA-2023:1743ALSA-2023:1582ALSA-2023:1583

  • nodejs-packaging Rocky Linux 9 2021.06-4.module+el9.7.0+40025+0e0cf6b2
  • nodejs-packaging Rocky Linux 9 2021.06-4.module+el9.7.0+40017+f0db1785
  • nodejs-packaging Rocky Linux 9 2021.06-4.module+el9.7.0+40018+a011993d
  • nodejs-packaging Rocky Linux 9 2021.06-4.module+el9.7.0+40022+9ecc286c
  • nodejs Rocky Linux 9 1:16.19.1-1.el9_2
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 9 2.0.20-3.el9_2
  • nodejs Rocky Linux 8 1:14.21.3-1.module+el8.7.0+1183+c2c35f0a
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 2.0.20-3.module+el8.7.0+1178+d52dba78

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2023:2654RLSA-2023:2655RLSA-2023:1743RLSA-2023:1582RLSA-2023:1583

  • nodejs Alpine 3.14 14.21.3-r0
  • nodejs Alpine 3.16, Alpine 3.15 16.19.1-r0
  • nodejs Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +5 more 18.14.1-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2023-23918

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • nodejs CBL-Mariner 2.0 16.19.1-1

azure linux advisories AZL-13776

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2023-23918 updated cvss 7.5

Node.js: Permissions policies can be bypassed via process.mainModule

  • Red Hat 3scale API Management Platform 2 3scale-amp2/system-rhel7
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Turn off the --experimental-policy in your Node.js deployment.”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) nodejs 14.21.3-1.module+el8.7.0+18531+81d21ca6, nodejs 16.19.1-1.module+el8.7.0+18373+704f5cef, nodejs 18.14.2-2.module+el8.7.0+18445+9493b6ea, nodejs-packaging 23-3.module+el8.3.0+6519+9f98ed83, nodejs-packaging 25-1.module+el8.5.0+10992+fac5fe06, npm 9.5.0-1.18.14.2.2.module+el8.7.0+18445+9493b6ea, +10 more
    fixed: vendor fix “Turn off the --experimental-policy in your Node.js deployment.” RHSA-2023:1743
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) nodejs 16.19.1-1.el9_2, nodejs-libs 16.19.1-1.el9_2, npm 8.19.3-1.16.19.1.1.el9_2, nodejs-full-i18n 16.19.1-1.el9_2, nodejs 18.14.2-2.module+el9.2.0.z+18497+a402347c, npm 9.5.0-1.18.14.2.2.module+el9.2.0.z+18497+a402347c, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix “Turn off the --experimental-policy in your Node.js deployment.” RHSA-2023:2655
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.8.4) nodejs 14.21.3-1.module+el8.4.0+18317+43f5ac16, nodejs-packaging 23-3.module+el8.3.0+6519+9f98ed83, nodejs-nodemon 2.0.20-3.module+el8.4.0+18317+43f5ac16, npm 6.14.18-1.14.21.3.1.module+el8.4.0+18317+43f5ac16, nodejs-full-i18n 14.21.3-1.module+el8.4.0+18317+43f5ac16
    fixed: vendor fix “Turn off the --experimental-policy in your Node.js deployment.” RHSA-2023:1533
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.8.6) nodejs 14.21.3-1.module+el8.6.0+18532+cbe6f646, nodejs-packaging 23-3.module+el8.3.0+6519+9f98ed83, nodejs-nodemon 2.0.20-3.module+el8.6.0+18532+cbe6f646, npm 6.14.18-1.14.21.3.1.module+el8.6.0+18532+cbe6f646, nodejs-full-i18n 14.21.3-1.module+el8.6.0+18532+cbe6f646
    fixed: vendor fix “Turn off the --experimental-policy in your Node.js deployment.” RHSA-2023:1742
  • Red Hat Software Collections for RHEL Workstation(v. 7) rh-nodejs14 3.6-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-runtime 3.6-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-scldevel 3.6-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-nodejs 14.21.3-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-npm 6.14.18-14.21.3.2.el7, rh-nodejs14-nodejs-full-i18n 14.21.3-2.el7 Red Hat Software Collections for RHEL(v. 7) rh-nodejs14 3.6-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-runtime 3.6-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-scldevel 3.6-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-nodejs 14.21.3-2.el7, rh-nodejs14-npm 6.14.18-14.21.3.2.el7, rh-nodejs14-nodejs-full-i18n 14.21.3-2.el7
    fixed: vendor fix “Turn off the --experimental-policy in your Node.js deployment.” RHSA-2023:1744
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 npm, nodejs, nodejs-libs, nodejs-nodemon, nodejs-full-i18n, nodejs-packaging, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) nodejs-nodemon 2.0.20-3.el9_2
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
19 mo ago

Exploit prediction

2.02% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 81% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CNA 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
OSV 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
bitnami node
>=14.0.0, <14.21.3
>=16.0.0, <16.19.1
>=18.0.0, <18.14.1
>=19.0.0, <19.6.1
14.21.3
16.19.1
18.14.1
19.6.1
bitnami node-min
>=14.0.0, <14.21.3
>=16.0.0, <16.19.1
>=18.0.0, <18.14.1
>=19.0.0, <19.6.1
14.21.3
16.19.1
18.14.1
19.6.1

Affected products

  • NodeJS Node

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.