CVE-2023-23623: Electron Electron's Content-Secrity-Policy Disabling Eval Not Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-gxh7-wv9q-fwfr
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-670
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2023-23623 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) electron's content-secrity-policy disabling eval not vulnerability (CWE-670: Always-Incorrect Control Flow Implementation) affecting Electron libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves electron's content-secrity-policy disabling eval not applied consistently in renderers with sandbox disabled. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 22.0.1, 23.0.0-alpha.2.

CVE-2023-23623 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2023-23623
GHSA Identifier GHSA-gxh7-wv9q-fwfr
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-670: Always-Incorrect Control Flow Implementation
Affected Product Electron
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2023-23623

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Electron dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

electron fixed: 22.0.1 
npm install electron@22.0.1
electron fixed: 23.0.0-alpha.2 
npm install electron@23.0.0-alpha.2
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

npm ls electron

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2023-23623, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls electron

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Electron in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 22.0.1), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls electron command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-670: Always-Incorrect Control Flow Implementation, where the code contains a control flow path that does not reflect the algorithm that the path is intended to implement, leading to incorrect behavior any time this path is navigated. In Electron, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a `script-src` directive and _not_ providing `unsafe-eval` in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox and contextIsolation disabled. i.e. `sandbox: false` and `contextIsolation: false` in the `webPreferences` object. This resulted in incorrectly allowing usage of methods like `eval()` and `new Function`, which can result in an expanded attack surface. ### Patches This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes: - 22.0.1 - 23.0.0-alpha.2 We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron, especially if they use `sandbox: false` or `contextIsolation: false`. ### Workarounds If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling at least one of `sandbox: true` or `contextIsolation: true` on all renderers. ```js const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({ webPreferences: { sandbox: true, } }); ``` ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [security@electronjs.org](mailto:security@electronjs.org). ### Credit Thanks to user @andreasdj for reporting this issue.

CVE-2023-23623 Affected Electron Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
22.0.123.0.0-alpha.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
electron
npm/electron
npm
≥ 22.0.0-beta.1
< 22.0.1
22.0.1
electron
npm/electron
npm
≥ 23.0.0-alpha.1
< 23.0.0-alpha.2
23.0.0-alpha.2

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/electron/electron/security/advisories/GHSA-gxh7-wv9q-fwfr
NVD — CVE-2023-23623 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23623
Electron Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/36667
Electron Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/36668
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/electron/electron/commit/9e7fbc7021d8d716c43782249a552e55289c35db
Electron Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/electron/electron
Electron Release RELEASE
https://github.com/electron/electron/releases/tag/v22.0.1

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-23623?
CVE-2023-23623 is a security vulnerability in Electron involving Electron's Content-Secrity-Policy disabling eval not applied consistently in renderers with sandbox disabled under CWE-670: Always-Incorrect Control Flow Implementation.
Which Electron versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 22.0.1, 23.0.0-alpha.2 across affected packages: electron.
What version fixes CVE-2023-23623?
Upgrading to 22.0.1, 23.0.0-alpha.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is electron affected?
Yes, electron is affected in releases prior to 22.0.1, 23.0.0-alpha.2. Upgrade your dependency to 22.0.1, 23.0.0-alpha.2 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-23623?
CVE-2023-23623 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2023-23623?
CVE-2023-23623 is classified under CWE-670: Always-Incorrect Control Flow Implementation (The code contains a control flow path that does not reflect the algorithm that the path is intended to implement, leading to incorrect behavior any time this path is navigated.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2023-23623?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls electron'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-gxh7-wv9q-fwfr",
  "modified" : "2023-09-06T18:42:17Z",
  "published" : "2023-09-06T18:42:17Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-23623" ],
  "summary" : "Electron's Content-Secrity-Policy disabling eval not applied consistently in renderers with sandbox disabled",
  "details" : "### Impact\nA Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a `script-src` directive and _not_ providing `unsafe-eval` in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox and contextIsolation disabled.  i.e. `sandbox: false` and `contextIsolation: false` in the `webPreferences` object.\n\nThis resulted in incorrectly allowing usage of methods like `eval()` and `new Function`, which can result in an expanded attack surface.\n\n### Patches\nThis issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes:\n\n- 22.0.1\n- 23.0.0-alpha.2\n\nWe recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron, especially if they use `sandbox: false` or `contextIsolation: false`.\n\n### Workarounds\nIf upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling at least one of `sandbox: true` or `contextIsolation: true` on all renderers.\n\n```js\nconst mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({\n  webPreferences: {\n    sandbox: true,\n  }\n});\n```\n\n### For more information\nIf you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [security@electronjs.org](mailto:security@electronjs.org).\n\n### Credit\nThanks to user @andreasdj for reporting this issue.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "electron"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "22.0.0-beta.1"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "22.0.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
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      "name" : "electron"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "23.0.0-alpha.1"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "23.0.0-alpha.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/electron/electron/security/advisories/GHSA-gxh7-wv9q-fwfr"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23623"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/36667"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/36668"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/electron/electron/commit/9e7fbc7021d8d716c43782249a552e55289c35db"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/electron/electron"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/electron/electron/releases/tag/v22.0.1"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-670" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-09-06T18:42:17Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2023-09-06T21:15:08Z"
  }
}