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Fencer Vulns
high 7.5

CVE-2023-32559 json

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the experimental policy mechanism in all active release lines: 16.x, 18.x and, 20.x.

published 2023-08-24 3 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-node-2023-32559 , BIT-node-min-2023-32559 , EUVD-2023-36803

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.8%
EPSS 1.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 78%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the experimental policy mechanism in all active release lines: 16.x, 18.x and, 20.x. The use of the deprecated API `process.binding()` can bypass the policy mechanism by requiring internal modules and eventually take advantage of `process.binding('spawn_sync')` run arbitrary code, outside of the limits defined in a `policy.json` file. Please note that at the time this CVE was issued, the policy is an experimental feature of Node.js.

Patch / fix

  • bitnami node 16.20.2, 18.17.1, 20.5.1
  • bitnami node-min 16.20.2, 18.17.1, 20.5.1
  • NodeJS Node 16.20.2, 18.17.1, 20.5.1
  • nodejs nodejs 16.20.1, 18.17.0, 20.5.0
  • nodejs Debian 12 18.19.0+dfsg-6~deb12u1
  • nodejs Debian 14, Debian 13 18.13.0+dfsg1-1.1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2023-32559

  • nodejs Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 12.22.9~dfsg-1ubuntu3.6

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2023-32559

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • npm RHEL 8 1:8.19.4-1.16.20.2.2.module+el8.8.0+19898+ab99ba34
  • nodejs RHEL 8 1:16.20.2-2.module+el8.8.0+19898+ab99ba34
  • nodejs-nodemon RHEL 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.8.0+19764+7eed1ca3
  • nodejs-full-i18n RHEL 8 1:16.20.2-2.module+el8.8.0+19898+ab99ba34
  • nodejs-packaging RHEL 8 26-1.module+el8.8.0+19857+6d2a104d
  • npm RHEL 8 1:9.6.7-1.18.17.1.1.module+el8.8.0+19757+8ca87034
  • nodejs RHEL 8 1:18.17.1-1.module+el8.8.0+19757+8ca87034
  • nodejs-nodemon RHEL 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.8.0+19757+8ca87034

red hat advisories RHSA-2023:5360RHSA-2023:5361RHSA-2023:5362RHSA-2023:5363RHSA-2023:5533RHSA-2023:5532

  • nodejs12 SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES for SAP 15 SP2, SLES 15 SP3-LTSS +8 more 12.22.12-150200.4.50.1
  • nodejs14 SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES for SAP 15 SP2, SLES 15 SP3-LTSS +7 more 14.21.3-150200.15.49.1
  • nodejs16 SLES for SAP 15 SP3, SLES 15 SP3-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS +3 more 16.20.2-150300.7.27.2
  • nodejs16 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 15 SP4, openSUSE Leap 15.4 16.20.2-150400.3.24.1
  • nodejs18 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 15 SP5, SLE Module for Web and Scripting 15 SP4, openSUSE Leap 15.5 +1 more 18.17.1-150400.9.12.1
  • nodejs18 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 12 18.17.1-8.12.1
  • nodejs16 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 12 16.20.2-8.33.1
  • nodejs14 SLE Module for Web and Scripting 12 14.21.3-6.46.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2023:3455-1SUSE-SU-2023:3408-1SUSE-SU-2023:3400-1SUSE-SU-2023:3379-1SUSE-SU-2023:3378-1SUSE-SU-2023:3356-1

  • nodejs20 openSUSE Tumbleweed 20.5.1-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:13117-1

  • nodejs AlmaLinux 9 1:16.20.2-1.el9_2
  • npm AlmaLinux 9 1:8.19.4-1.16.20.2.1.el9_2
  • nodejs-libs AlmaLinux 9 1:16.20.2-1.el9_2
  • nodejs-full-i18n AlmaLinux 9 1:16.20.2-1.el9_2
  • npm AlmaLinux 8 1:8.19.4-1.16.20.2.2.module_el8.8.0+3614+204d6f43
  • nodejs AlmaLinux 8 1:16.20.2-2.module_el8.8.0+3614+204d6f43
  • nodejs-nodemon AlmaLinux 8 3.0.1-1.module_el8.8.0+3614+204d6f43
  • nodejs-full-i18n AlmaLinux 8 1:16.20.2-2.module_el8.8.0+3614+204d6f43

almalinux advisories ALSA-2023:5532ALSA-2023:5360ALSA-2023:5362ALSA-2023:5363

  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.10.0+1667+4a788d89
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.10.0+1823+b5789597
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.10.0+1935+d3cbe60f
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.10.0+1988+437f3d23
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.10.0+1824+532140ee
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.10.0+1924+614dc87f
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.9.0+1760+903d54b9
  • nodejs-nodemon Rocky Linux 8 3.0.1-1.module+el8.10.0+1989+e60144d9

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2023:5360RLSA-2023:5362RLSA-2023:5532RLSA-2023:5363

  • nodejs Alpine 3.16, Alpine 3.15 16.20.2-r0
  • nodejs Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +5 more 18.17.1-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2023-32559

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 16.20.2-2
  • nodejs18 CBL-Mariner 2.0 18.17.1-2

azure linux advisories AZL-27973AZL-27974

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-2023-32559 updated cvss 7.5

nodejs: Permissions policies can be bypassed via process.binding

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) nodejs 16.20.2-2.module+el8.8.0+19898+ab99ba34, nodejs 18.17.1-1.module+el8.8.0+19757+8ca87034, nodejs-packaging 26-1.module+el8.8.0+19857+6d2a104d, npm 9.6.7-1.18.17.1.1.module+el8.8.0+19757+8ca87034, nodejs-nodemon 3.0.1-1.module+el8.8.0+19757+8ca87034, nodejs-nodemon 3.0.1-1.module+el8.8.0+19764+7eed1ca3, +5 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:5360
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) nodejs 16.20.2-1.el9_2, nodejs-libs 16.20.2-1.el9_2, npm 8.19.4-1.16.20.2.1.el9_2, nodejs-full-i18n 16.20.2-1.el9_2, nodejs 18.17.1-1.module+el9.2.0.z+19753+58118bc0, npm 9.6.7-1.18.17.1.1.module+el9.2.0.z+19753+58118bc0, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:5532
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.8.6) nodejs 16.20.2-2.module+el8.6.0+19897+9590a839, nodejs-packaging 26-1.module+el8.6.0+19856+c0c87259, nodejs-nodemon 3.0.1-1.module+el8.6.0+19765+366b9144, npm 8.19.4-1.16.20.2.2.module+el8.6.0+19897+9590a839, nodejs-full-i18n 16.20.2-2.module+el8.6.0+19897+9590a839
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:5361
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.0) nodejs 16.20.2-1.el9_0, nodejs-libs 16.20.2-1.el9_0, npm 8.19.4-1.16.20.2.1.el9_0, nodejs-full-i18n 16.20.2-1.el9_0
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2023:5533
  • Red Hat Software Collections rh-nodejs14-npm, rh-nodejs14-nodejs, rh-nodejs14-nodejs-full-i18n
    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
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

1.80% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 78% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • hackerone.com https://hackerone.com/reports/1946470 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

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

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
bitnami node
<16.20.2
>=17.0.0, <18.17.1
>=19.0.0, <20.5.1
16.20.2
18.17.1
20.5.1
bitnami node-min
<16.20.2
>=17.0.0, <18.17.1
>=19.0.0, <20.5.1
16.20.2
18.17.1
20.5.1

Affected products

  • NodeJS Node
  • nodejs nodejs

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management
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.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Improve version ranges to indicate fix.