Vulnerability in electron (CVE-2021-39184)
Summary
Vulnerability in electron (CVE-2021-39184). Confidential information can be exposed externally. Exploitable via contextIsolation. Mitigation: upgrade to 13.3.0 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Electron is a framework for writing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. A vulnerability in versions prior to 11.5.0, 12.1.0, and 13.3.0 allows a sandboxed renderer to request a "thumbnail" image of an arbitrary file on the user's system. The thumbnail can potentially include significant parts of the original file, including textual data in many cases. Versions 15.0.0-alpha.10, 14.0.0, 13.3.0, 12.1.0, and 11.5.0 all contain a fix for the vulnerability. Two workarounds aside from upgrading are available. One may make the vulnerability significantly more difficult for an attacker to exploit by enabling contextIsolation in one's app. One may also disable the functionality of the createThumbnailFromPath API if one does not need it.
Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-39184 has been found in electron.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like contextIsolation over the network to misuse the product.
Confidential information can be exposed externally.
What to do: upgrade electron to 13.3.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "electron CVE-2021-39184" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2021-39184 (electron) — CWE-668
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated / no user interaction
Attack surface: contextIsolation / createThumbnailFromPath
Patched: 13.3.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-668) exists in electron. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via contextIsolation without authentication.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of electron. Attack surface: contextIsolation / createThumbnailFromPath.
Severity: ?. Confidential information can be exposed externally.
Update to 13.3.0.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'electron' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'electron' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
electronを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade electron to 13.3.0ステージング環境で 13.3.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- advisory github.com
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- advisory github.com
- package github.com
- web github.com