NVD / CVE Program· CNA hackerone

CVE-2024-21891: Node.js depends on multiple built-in utility functions to normalize paths provided to node:fs functions, which can be overwitten with user-d

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 35/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 69.3% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: NodeJS Node 10.*, 11.*, 12.*.
Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to NodeJS Node 10.*, 11.*, 12.* or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Node.js depends on multiple built-in utility functions to normalize paths provided to node:fs functions, which can be overwitten with user-defined implementations leading to filesystem permission model bypass through path traversal attack. This vulnerability affects all users using the experimental permission model in Node.js 20 and Node.js 21. Please note that at the time this CVE was issued, the permission model is an experimental feature of Node.js.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Path traversal

Published: Feb 19, 2024
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 1.2% · 69th percentile
CWE: CWE-22

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 1.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 8.8
CNA · hackerone: 7.9; 0.9 point gap

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
nodejs	node.js	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js

Using node.js? Add it to your stack and be the first to know about CVEs like this one. (Node.js)

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

nodejs node.js20.0.0 and later · before 20.11.1
nodejs node.js21.0.0 and later · before 21.6.2

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (hackerone). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

NodeJS Node
- 4.0 and later · before 4.*affected · semver
- 5.0 and later · before 5.*affected · semver
- 6.0 and later · before 6.*affected · semver
- 7.0 and later · before 7.*affected · semver
- 8.0 and later · before 8.*affected · semver
- 9.0 and later · before 9.*affected · semver
- 10.0 and later · before 10.*affected · semver
- 11.0 and later · before 11.*affected · semver
- 12.0 and later · before 12.*affected · semver
- 13.0 and later · before 13.*affected · semver

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

+32

Same product

nodejs: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2019-15605HTTP request smuggling in Node.js 10, 12, and 13 causes malicious payload delivery when transfer-encoding is malformed
56Plan
CVE-2021-22883Node.js before 10.24.0, 12.21.0, 14.16.0, and 15.10.0 is vulnerable to a denial of service attack when too many connection attempts with an
53Plan
CVE-2021-22930Node.js before 16.6.0, 14.17.4, and 12.22.4 is vulnerable to a use after free attack where an attacker might be able to exploit the memory c
50Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2023-30590Nov 28, 2023 · The generateKeys() API function returned from crypto.createDiffieHellman() only generates missing (or outdated) keys, that is, it only gener
30Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2024-21890Feb 19, 2024 · The Node.js Permission Model does not clarify in the documentation that wildcards should be only used as the last character of a file path.
26Monitor
Later →CVE-2024-21896Feb 19, 2024 · The permission model protects itself against path traversal attacks by calling path.resolve() on any paths given by the user.
39Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
NodeJS Node	10.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	11.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	12.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	13.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	14.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	15.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	16.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	17.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	19.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	20.11.1	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	21.6.2	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	4.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	5.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	6.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	7.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	8.*	Vendor (CNA)
NodeJS Node	9.*	Vendor (CNA)
almalinux:nodejs	1:20.11.1-1.module_el8.9.0+3775+d8460d35 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:nodejs-devel	1:20.11.1-1.module_el8.9.0+3775+d8460d35 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:nodejs-docs	1:20.11.1-1.module_el8.9.0+3775+d8460d35 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:nodejs-full-i18n	1:20.11.1-1.module_el8.9.0+3775+d8460d35 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:nodejs-nodemon	3.0.1-1.module_el8.9.0+3731+490e3ce5 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:nodejs-packaging	2021.06-4.module_el8.9.0+3684+11b9e959 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:nodejs-packaging-bundler	2021.06-4.module_el8.9.0+3684+11b9e959 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
almalinux:npm	1:10.2.4-1.20.11.1.1.module_el8.9.0+3775+d8460d35 · AlmaLinux:8	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:nodejs20	20.11.1-150500.11.6.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.5	Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:nodejs21	21.6.2-1.1 · openSUSE:Tumbleweed	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:nodejs	1:20.11.1-1.module+el8.9.0+21380+12032667 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:nodejs-debuginfo	1:20.11.1-1.module+el8.9.0+21380+12032667 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream	Package registry (OSV)
red hat:nodejs-debugsource	1:20.11.1-1.module+el8.9.0+21380+12032667 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream	Package registry (OSV)

+11

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

CVE-2023-39332124 days apartVarious `node:fs` functions allow specifying paths as either strings or `Uint8Array` objects.
40Plan
CVE-2023-32004188 days apartA vulnerability has been discovered in Node.js version 20, specifically within the experimental permission model.
36Monitor
CVE-2023-32558160 days apartThe use of the deprecated API `process.binding()` can bypass the permission model through path traversal.
31Monitor
CVE-2023-39331124 days apartA previously disclosed vulnerability (CVE-2023-30584) was patched insufficiently in commit 205f1e6.
30Monitor
CVE-2025-23084344 days apartA vulnerability has been identified in Node.js, specifically affecting the handling of drive names in the Windows environment.
22Monitor
CVE-2023-32003188 days apart`fs.mkdtemp()` and `fs.mkdtempSync()` can be used to bypass the permission model check using a path traversal attack.
21Monitor

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

Node.jsHackerOne · paid

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

TR-24-0117 · Feb 20, 2024(Node JS Güvenlik Güncellemesi)

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

A user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-22 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);
2res.sendFile(file);

Fixed

1const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);
2if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) {
3  return res.sendStatus(400);
4}
5res.sendFile(file);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/11/1

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records