CVE-2026-71319 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.6) Code Injection vulnerability in @nuxt/devtools. A fix is available for @nuxt/devtools — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Nuxt.js Unauthenticated WebSocket RPC Call Leading to Remote Code Execution
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-2026-71319.
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.
@nuxt/devtoolsnpmDescription
Impact
Nuxt DevTools (development mode only) exposes a bidirectional RPC channel over the Vite HMR WebSocket via the nuxt:devtools:rpc plugin. On affected versions the channel has no authentication: any client that can reach the Vite HMR endpoint (ws://<host>:<port>/, subprotocol vite-hmr) can call RPC methods, with no token, handshake, or origin check before the channel is established. The updateOptions(), clearOptions(), and openInEditor() methods do not enforce the ensureDevAuthToken check that the other mutating methods use.
openInEditor() reads the persisted behavior.openInEditor value and passes it to the launch-editor package, which spawns it as a child process. That value is settable through the equally unauthenticated updateOptions(). An attacker who can reach the HMR port can therefore chain updateOptions('behavior', { openInEditor: '<command>' }) then openInEditor('<any-existing-file>') to execute an arbitrary program on the developer's machine.
The HMR port is reachable by a process on the same host, by any peer on the LAN when the dev server is bound with nuxi dev --host, or by a malicious website the developer visits while the dev server is running (a browser can open the HMR WebSocket cross-origin). Impact is limited to development environments; production builds do not run DevTools.
Patches
Fixed in @nuxt/[email protected]. Because nuxt depends on @nuxt/devtools through a ^3.x range, updating is a lockfile refresh / reinstall; no nuxt release is required.
Workarounds
- Update
@nuxt/devtoolsto a patched version. - Do not run the dev server bound to a non-loopback interface (
nuxi dev --host) on an untrusted network. - Disable DevTools entirely with
devtools: { enabled: false }innuxt.config.
References
- GHSA-279x-mwfv-vcqv
launch-editor: https://www.npmjs.com/package/launch-editor
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @nuxt/devtools | all versions | 3.3.1npm install @nuxt/devtools@3.3.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @nuxt/devtools, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @nuxt/devtools to 3.3.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-71319 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-71319 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.