GHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f — electron
HIGHGHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) CWE-88 vulnerability in electron. A fix is available for electron — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Electron: Renderer command-line switch injection via undocumented commandLineSwitches webPreference
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 GHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
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
An undocumented commandLineSwitches webPreference allowed arbitrary switches to be appended to the renderer process command line. Apps that construct webPreferences by spreading untrusted configuration objects may inadvertently allow an attacker to inject switches that disable renderer sandboxing or web security controls.
Apps are only affected if they construct webPreferences from external or untrusted input without an allowlist. Apps that use a fixed, hardcoded webPreferences object are not affected.
Workarounds
Do not spread untrusted input into webPreferences. Use an explicit allowlist of permitted preference keys when constructing BrowserWindow or webContents options from external configuration.
Fixed Versions
41.0.0-beta.840.7.039.8.038.8.6
For more information
If there are any questions or comments about this advisory, send an email to [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.8 | 41.0.0-beta.8npm install electron@41.0.0-beta.8 |
Detection & 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-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-9wfr-w7mm-pc7f across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.