CRITICALVulnerability
Verified
Global

NVD CRITICAL: CVE-2026-100721 — vm2 before 3.12.2 contains an authorization bypass in the NodeVM external-module...

·Source: NIST NVD

Updated:

Executive Summary

vm2 before 3.12.2 contains an authorization bypass in the NodeVM external-module resolver. When an embedder configures `require.external` with a custom resolver (and `context: 'host'`), `LegacyResolver.customResolve` in lib/resolver-compat.js records the resolved module directory in `this.externals` as `new RegExp('^' + escapeRegExp(resolvedPath))`, without requiring a path separator or end-of-str

Analysis

vm2 before 3.12.2 contains an authorization bypass in the NodeVM external-module resolver. When an embedder configures `require.external` with a custom resolver (and `context: 'host'`), `LegacyResolver.customResolve` in lib/resolver-compat.js records the resolved module directory in `this.externals` as `new RegExp('^' + escapeRegExp(resolvedPath))`, without requiring a path separator or end-of-string boundary. Untrusted guest code can therefore require the allowlisted module (e.g. `foo`) and then require the absolute path of a non-allowlisted sibling whose path merely shares the resolved prefix (e.g. `.../node_modules/foo2/index.js`); the sibling passes `isPathAllowedForModule` and is loaded through `hostRequire`, so its top-level code runs in the host process before the exports are wrapped with `vm.readonly`, resulting in a sandbox escape and arbitrary code execution in the host context. CVSS Score: 9. Published: 2026-09-27T02:17:17.547.

Indicators of Compromise (1)

CVE (1)
CVE-2026-100721
Source Attribution

Originally published by NIST NVD on Sep 27, 2026. Verified by: NIST.

Related Threats