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A critical sandbox-escape flaw in the Node.js library vm2 allows attackers to bypass protections around Promise.prototype.then and Promise.prototype.catch, break out of the sandbox, and execute arbitrary code on the host. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-22709 with a CVSS 9.8 score, affects vm2 3.10.0 and earlier and strikes at the library’s core purpose of safely running untrusted JavaScript. Users were urged to upgrade immediately to vm2 3.10.2 or later.
The disclosure follows broader concerns about vm2’s long-term viability after repeated sandbox escapes and a prior GitHub advisory describing additional flaws that could lead to remote code execution. Semgrep reported that the project was later discontinued after maintainers concluded vm2’s dependence on Node’s vm module and JavaScript proxy behavior made the sandboxing model fundamentally difficult to secure. The maintainer recommended isolated-vm as an alternative, while warning signs around maintenance and ecosystem support continue to raise risk for organizations that rely on JavaScript sandboxing libraries.
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A critical sandbox escape vulnerability, CVE-2026-22709, was fixed in the vm2 library for Node.js. The flaw affected vm2 3.10.0 and earlier and allowed bypass of Promise.prototype.then and Promise.prototype.catch sanitization to escape the sandbox and execute arbitrary code.
Following the July 12 advisory, maintainer Patrick Simek shut down the vm2 project, said no fix was planned, and recommended isolated-vm as a replacement. The decision was attributed to underlying design limitations that made sandbox escapes effectively unfixable.
A GitHub security advisory published on July 12 disclosed two vm2 sandbox escape vulnerabilities that could lead to remote code execution. The disclosure marked a major escalation in the project's 2023 security issues.
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Researchers disclosed a broad set of critical flaws in the `vm2` Node.js sandbox library that allow untrusted JavaScript to break isolation and execute arbitrary code on the host system. Reports describe 11 to 12 vulnerabilities affecting versions across the `3.9.6` to `3.11.1` range, with most rated `CVSS 9.8` to `10.0`, and impacting core protections such as built-in allowlists, object handling, prototype traversal, Promise species behavior, `util.inspect`, `Module._load()`, WebAssembly exception handling, and unsafe `nesting: true` configurations. One tracked issue, **CVE-2026-24118**, is a sandbox breakout through `__lookupGetter__` in versions prior to `3.11.0`, enabling host-level command execution with no privileges or user interaction. The disclosures reinforce long-running concerns that `vm2`'s JavaScript-only isolation model is not dependable for high-risk use cases such as multi-tenant code execution, plugin evaluation, automated grading, and serverless workloads. While some reports recommend upgrading to **vm2 `3.11.2`** for the latest protections, others note that **CVE-2026-44008** and **CVE-2026-44009** remain unpatched and argue that organizations handling untrusted code should consider stronger isolation boundaries such as containers or microVMs. Successful exploitation could expose environment variables, credentials, and files, and enable full compromise of the underlying Node.js host and potential lateral movement.
Jun 29, 2026
The `vm2` Node.js sandboxing library was hit by a wave of critical sandbox-escape vulnerabilities that let attackers executing untrusted JavaScript break out and run arbitrary commands on the host. Reported flaws include CVE-2026-24120, which bypasses an earlier Promise-species mitigation to reach the host `Function` constructor; CVE-2026-24118, which abuses `__lookupGetter__`, `Buffer.apply`, and prototype traversal; CVE-2026-24781, which leverages `inspect` proxy unwrapping; CVE-2026-26332, which pivots through `SuppressedError`; and CVE-2026-26956, which uses WebAssembly `JSTag` exception handling on Node.js 25+. Across the advisories, affected versions span the `3.10.x` branch and earlier, with several issues requiring only the ability to submit code to a vm2 instance and no authentication or user interaction. The project responded with security releases `v3.10.5` and `v3.11.0`, with `v3.11.0` closing 13 advisories including sandbox escapes, denial-of-service bugs, information disclosure, and prototype pollution. Maintainers also patched a separate `NodeVM` issue tracked as `GHSA-m4wx-m65x-ghrr`, where enabling `nesting: true` with omitted or falsy `require` settings could expose the `vm2` package inside the sandbox and lead to host remote code execution. The releases added broader hardening measures such as `bufferAllocLimit`, stricter handling of dangerous built-ins, and filesystem checks, while maintainers warned that organizations using vm2 to run fully untrusted code should upgrade immediately and avoid treating in-process JavaScript sandboxing as a sole security boundary.
Jun 29, 2026
A wave of disclosures has exposed multiple critical flaws in the Node.js sandbox library **vm2**, showing that untrusted JavaScript can break out of the sandbox and execute commands on the host. GitHub advisories describe several distinct escape paths affecting versions as old as `3.9.6` and, in some cases, up to `3.11.3`, including a breakout through Node.js `inspect`, a Promise species bypass that defeats an earlier patch, prototype pollution through vm2’s bridge to host intrinsic prototypes, and a `NodeVM` misconfiguration path where `nesting: true` lets code bypass `require: false` and load `vm2` recursively to reach modules such as `child_process`. Public proof-of-concepts show attackers recovering the host `process` object and invoking host commands, turning vm2 from a containment boundary into a route to full host compromise. Additional reporting and upstream changes indicate the problems are broader than a single bug. Semgrep documented a new sandbox escape, while vm2 maintainers added regression tests covering descriptor- and prototype-traversal techniques used to recover host constructors such as `Function`, `AsyncFunction`, and `GeneratorFunction`, as well as callback sanitization bypasses tied to Promise handling. A later roundup described five critical vulnerabilities with no practical configuration-based workaround for deployments that execute untrusted code, and urged upgrades to **vm2 `3.11.4` or later**. The advisory backlog on the project’s GitHub page shows a concentrated set of newly published sandbox escape, builtin bypass, and host code execution issues, underscoring that organizations relying on vm2 for isolation should treat affected environments as potentially compromised.
Jun 29, 2026