Description
A flaw in Node.js’s Permissions model allows attackers to bypass `--allow-fs-read` and `--allow-fs-write` restrictions using crafted relative symlink paths. By chaining directories and symlinks, a script granted access only to the current directory can escape the allowed path and read sensitive files. This breaks the expected isolation guarantees and enables arbitrary file read/write, leading to potential system compromise. This vulnerability affects users of the permission model on Node.js v20, v22, v24, and v25.
CVSS Metrics
- Vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Attack Vector
- network
- Complexity
- low
- Privileges
- none
- User Action
- none
- Scope
- unchanged
- Confidentiality
- high
- Integrity
- high
- Availability
- none
- Weaknesses
- CWE-289
Metadata
- Primary Vendor
- NODEJS
- Published
- 1/20/2026
- Last Modified
- 2/3/2026
- Source
- NIST NVD
- Note: Verify all details with official vendor sources before applying patches.
Affected Products
nodejs : node.jsnodejs : node.jsnodejs : node.jsnodejs : node.js
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