CVE-2020-26272 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-668 vulnerability in electron. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-26272 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
IPC messages delivered to the wrong frame in Electron
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
electronnpmDescription
The Electron framework lets users write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. In versions of Electron IPC prior to 9.4.0, 10.2.0, 11.1.0, and 12.0.0-beta.9, messages sent from the main process to a subframe in the renderer process, through webContents.sendToFrame, event.reply or when using the remote module, can in some cases be delivered to the wrong frame. If your app uses remote, calls webContents.sendToFrame, or calls event.reply in an IPC message handler then it is impacted by this issue. This has been fixed in versions 9.4.0, 10.2.0, 11.1.0, and 12.0.0-beta.9. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | electron | all versions | 9.4.0 |
| 📦npm | electron | ≥ 10.0.0&&< 10.2.0 | 10.2.0 |
| 📦npm | electron | ≥ 11.0.0&&< 11.1.0 | 11.1.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for electron. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update electron to 9.4.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-26272 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-26272 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2020-26272. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-26272 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-26272 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.