Electron: Use-after-free in download save dialog callbackGHSA-9w97-2464-8783
MEDIUMGHSA-9w97-2464-8783 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.8) Use After Free vulnerability in electron. A fix is available for electron — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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 GHSA-9w97-2464-8783.
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.
electronnpmDescription
Impact
Apps that allow downloads and programmatically destroy sessions may be vulnerable to a use-after-free. If a session is torn down while a native save-file dialog is open for a download, dismissing the dialog dereferences freed memory, which may lead to a crash or memory corruption.
Apps that do not destroy sessions at runtime, or that do not permit downloads, are not affected.
Workarounds
Avoid destroying sessions while a download save dialog may be open. Cancel pending downloads before session teardown.
Fixed Versions
41.0.0-beta.740.7.039.8.038.8.6
For more information
If there are any questions or comments about this advisory, please email [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | electron | all versions | 38.8.6npm install electron@38.8.6 |
| 📦npm | electron | ≥ 39.0.0-alpha.1&&< 39.8.0 | 39.8.0npm install electron@39.8.0 |
| 📦npm | electron | ≥ 40.0.0-alpha.1&&< 40.7.0 | 40.7.0npm install electron@40.7.0 |
| 📦npm | electron | ≥ 41.0.0-alpha.1&&< 41.0.0-beta.7 | 41.0.0-beta.7npm install electron@41.0.0-beta.7 |
Affected Products
electronelectronjsDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for electron, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update electron to 38.8.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-9w97-2464-8783 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Constrain what reaches the vulnerable code: limit the size and shape of untrusted input, isolate the affected component in a sandboxed or least-privileged process, and enable the platform's memory-safety mitigations (ASLR, stack protector, hardened allocator) so an out-of-bounds access is more likely to fail closed than to be exploitable.
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 GHSA-9w97-2464-8783 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-9w97-2464-8783 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.