CVE-2026-112942 — launch-editor
Fix: vitejs/launch-editor@f13cd83CVE-2026-112942 is a CWE-77 vulnerability in launch-editor. A fix is available for launch-editor — see the affected versions and patch details below.
launch-editor: `fs.existsSync()` existence check can be bypassed on Windows
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-2026-112942.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
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.
launch-editornpmvitenpmDescription
Summary
launch-editor checked fs.existsSync(fileName) before passing a supplied path to an editor command. On Windows, an attacker can bypass this check with a crafted path ending in \\..:line:column. This removes the requirement that the attacker be able to place a file with a malicious filename.
Combined with the % escaping issue described in GHSA-698v-4r3x-3vcv, this bypass can lead to OS command injection when an attacker controls the file argument.
Impact
Only apps that runs on Windows is affected.
Details
The earlier advisory assumed that fs.existsSync() required an attacker-controlled filename to exist. This advisory covers a bypass of that requirement.
A crafted value ending in \\..:1:1 is interpreted differently by launch-editor-middleware, launch-editor, and Windows:
launch-editor-middlewarecallspath.resolve()while the final path component is..:1:1, so it is not treated as a parent-directory component.launch-editortreats:1:1as a line-and-column suffix and removes it, leaving a path ending in\\...- On Windows,
fs.existsSync()accepts the resulting path as the existing parent directory even though the attacker-controlled preceding component does not exist. - Because the existence check passes, the crafted filename reaches the Windows shell command.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | launch-editor | all versions | 2.14.2npm install launch-editor@2.14.2 |
| 📦npm | vite | ≥ 8.3.0&&< 8.3.3 | 8.3.3npm install vite@8.3.3 |
| 📦npm | vite | ≥ 8.2.0&&< 8.2.4 | 8.2.4npm install vite@8.2.4 |
| 📦npm | vite | ≥ 8.0.0&&< 8.1.6 | 8.1.6npm install vite@8.1.6 |
| 📦npm | vite | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.3.7 | 7.3.7npm install vite@7.3.7 |
| 📦npm | vite | all versions | 6.4.4npm install vite@6.4.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for launch-editor, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update launch-editor to 2.14.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-112942 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
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.
--- CME Mitigation Guidance (2026-10-20) --- Disclaimer: The following mitigation solutions are provided as a courtesy, pending the application of an official patch. This content was generated utilizing AI tools in conjunction with data from https://cmetaxonomy.org. Customers are advised to independently evaluate and test these temporary mitigations within their own infrastructure. The highest-value action is to eliminate shell invocation when launching editor processes on Windows hosts to prevent percent-variable expansion: upgrade to launch-editor 2.14.2 (or the fixed Grafana/Prometheus builds), which resolve file paths with path.resolve() immediately after stripping line and column…Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2026-112942 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-112942 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.