GHSA-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg is a high-severity (CVSS 7.9) CWE-59 vulnerability in wix. A fix is available for wix — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Malicious directory junction can cause WiX RemoveFoldersEx to possibly delete elevated files
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-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg.
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-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg 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 377,333 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
wix.NETwix.NETWixToolset.Util.wixextReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects NuGet packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
The custom action behind WiX's RemoveFolderEx functionality could allow a standard user to delete protected directories.
Details
RemoveFolderEx deletes an entire directory tree during installation or uninstallation. It does so by recursing every subdirectory starting at a specified directory and adding each subdirectory to the list of directories Windows Installer should delete. If the setup author instructed RemoveFolderEx to delete a per-user folder from a per-machine installer, an attacker could create a directory junction in that per-user folder pointing to a per-machine, protected directory. Windows Installer, when executing the per-machine installer after approval by an administrator, would delete the target of the directory junction.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| .NETNuGet | wix | all versions | 3.14.1dotnet add package wix --version 3.14.1 |
| .NETNuGet | wix | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.0.5 | 4.0.5dotnet add package wix --version 4.0.5 |
| .NETNuGet | WixToolset.Util.wixext | all versions | 4.0.5dotnet add package WixToolset.Util.wixext --version 4.0.5 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for wix, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update wix to 3.14.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg 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-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg. 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-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-jx4p-m4wm-vvjg across NuGet dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.