CVE-2025-59288 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-347 vulnerability in playwright. A fix is available for playwright — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Playwright downloads and installs browsers without verifying the authenticity of the SSL certificate
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-59288.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
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.
playwrightnpmDescription
Summary
Use of curl with the -k (or --insecure) flag in installer scripts allows attackers to deliver arbitrary executables via Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks. This can lead to full system compromise, as the downloaded files are installed as privileged applications.
Details
The following scripts in the microsoft/playwright repository at commit bee11cbc28f24bd18e726163d0b9b1571b4f26a8 use curl -k to fetch and install executable packages without verifying the authenticity of the SSL certificate:
packages/playwright-core/bin/reinstall_chrome_beta_mac.shpackages/playwright-core/bin/reinstall_chrome_stable_mac.shpackages/playwright-core/bin/reinstall_msedge_dev_mac.shpackages/playwright-core/bin/reinstall_msedge_beta_mac.shpackages/playwright-core/bin/reinstall_msedge_stable_mac.sh
In each case, the shell scripts download a browser installer package using curl -k and immediately install it:
curl --retry 3 -o ./<pkg-file> -k <url>
sudo installer -pkg /tmp/<pkg-file> -target /
Disabling SSL verification (-k) means the download can be intercepted and replaced with malicious content.
PoC
A high-level exploitation scenario:
- An attacker performs a MitM attack on a network where the victim runs one of these scripts.
- The attacker intercepts the HTTPS request and serves a malicious package (for example, a trojaned browser installer).
- Because
curl -kis used, the script downloads and installs the attacker's payload without any certificate validation. - The attacker's code is executed with system privileges, leading to full compromise.
No special configuration is needed: simply running these scripts on any untrusted or hostile network is enough.
Impact
This is a critical Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability due to improper SSL certificate validation (CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation). Any user or automation running these scripts is at risk of arbitrary code execution as root/admin, system compromise, data theft, or persistent malware installation. The risk is especially severe because browser packages are installed with elevated privileges and the scripts may be used in CI/CD or developer environments.
Fix
- https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/commit/72c62d840247d9defd87c6beb0344d456794b570
- https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/pull/37532
- https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/releases/tag/v1.56.0
Credit
- This vulnerability was uncovered by tooling by Socket
- This vulnerability was confirmed by @evilpacket
- This vulnerability was reported by @JLLeitschuh at Socket
Disclosure
- September 10th, 2025 - Disclosed to Microsoft privately via https://github.com/microsoft/playwright/security/advisories/GHSA-gx27-2j22-qcx8
- September 11th, 2025 - Reported to Microsoft via MSRC Researcher Portal - https://msrc.microsoft.com/report/vulnerability/VULN-162854
- September 11th, 2025 - Microsoft closed report as "Complete - N/A"
- September 18th, 2025 - Following a LinkedIn Post
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | playwright | all versions | 1.55.1npm install playwright@1.55.1 |
Affected Products
playwrightmicrosoftDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for playwright, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update playwright to 1.55.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-59288 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.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2025-59288 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-59288 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.