How severe is GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx?

GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx has a CVSS score of 7.3/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx?

GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx affects the following packages: @anthropic-ai/claude-code (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx?

Update @anthropic-ai/claude-code to 2.1.75 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @anthropic-ai/claude-code. 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.

How do I mitigate GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What type of vulnerability is GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx?

GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx is classified as CWE-426 (CWE-426). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx was published on April 17, 2026 and was last updated on May 5, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦 npm

GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx

HIGH

GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx is a high-severity (CVSS 7.3) CWE-426 vulnerability in @anthropic-ai/claude-code. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.

Claude Code: Insecure System-Wide Configuration Loading Enables Local Privilege Escalation on Windows

Also known asCVE-2026-35603

Published

Apr 17, 2026

Updated

May 5, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, a proxy for how much of the ecosystem is exposed.

@anthropic-ai/claude-codenpm

11.3Mdownloads / week

Description

On Windows, Claude Code loaded system-wide default configuration from C:\ProgramData\ClaudeCode\managed-settings.json without validating directory ownership or access permissions. Because the ProgramData directory is writable by non-administrative users by default and the ClaudeCode subdirectory was not pre-created or access-restricted, a low-privileged local user could create this directory and place a malicious configuration file that would be automatically loaded for any user launching Claude Code on the same machine. Exploiting this would have required a shared multi-user Windows system and a victim user to launch Claude Code after the malicious configuration was placed.

Users on standard Claude Code auto-update have received this fix already. Users performing manual updates are advised to update to the latest version.

Thank you to hackerone.com/edbr for reporting this issue.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`@anthropic-ai/claude-code`	all versions	2.1.75

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @anthropic-ai/claude-code. 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 @anthropic-ai/claude-code to 2.1.75 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx 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 GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx 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 GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

On Windows, Claude Code loaded system-wide default configuration from `C:\ProgramData\ClaudeCode\managed-settings.json` without validating directory ownership or access permissions. Because the `ProgramData` directory is writable by non-administrative users by default and the `ClaudeCode` subdirectory was not pre-created or access-restricted, a low-privileged local user could create this directory and place a malicious configuration file that would be automatically loaded for any user launching Claude Code on the same machine. Exploiting this would have required a shared multi-user Windows sys

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-5cwg-9f6j-9jvx across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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