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SECURITY.md
Report security bugs in Node.js via https://hackerone.com/nodejs.
Normally, your report will be acknowledged within 5 days, and you'll receive a more detailed response to your report within 10 days indicating the next steps in handling your submission. These timelines may extend when our triage volunteers are away on holiday, particularly at the end of the year.
After the initial reply to your report, the security team will endeavor to keep you informed of the progress being made towards a fix and full announcement, and may ask for additional information or guidance surrounding the reported issue.
If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your report within 6 business days, or if you cannot find a private security contact for the project, you may escalate to the OpenJS Foundation CNA at [email protected].
If the project acknowledges your report but does not provide any further response or engagement within 14 days, escalation is also appropriate.
The Node.js project engages in an official bug bounty program for security researchers and responsible public disclosures. The program is managed through the HackerOne platform. See https://hackerone.com/nodejs for further details.
#reporting-a-bug-in-a-third-party-module
Security bugs in third-party modules should be reported to their respective maintainers.
Here is the security disclosure policy for Node.js
The security report is received and is assigned a primary handler. This person will coordinate the fix and release process. The problem is validated against all supported Node.js versions. Once confirmed, a list of all affected versions is determined. Code is audited to find any potential similar problems. Fixes are prepared for all supported releases. These fixes are not committed to the public repository but rather held locally pending the announcement.
A suggested embargo date for this vulnerability is chosen and a CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®)) is requested for the vulnerability.
On the embargo date, a copy of the announcement is sent to the Node.js security mailing list. The changes are pushed to the public repository and new builds are deployed to nodejs.org. Within 6 hours of the mailing list being notified, a copy of the advisory will be published on the Node.js blog.
Typically, the embargo date will be set 72 hours from the time the CVE is issued. However, this may vary depending on the severity of the bug or difficulty in applying a fix.
This process can take some time, especially when we need to coordinate with maintainers of other projects. We will try to handle the bug as quickly as possible; however, we must follow the release process above to ensure that we handle disclosure consistently.
#code-of-conduct-and-vulnerability-reporting-guidelines
When reporting security vulnerabilities, reporters must adhere to the following guidelines:
Code of Conduct Compliance: All security reports must comply with our [/nodejs/node/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md](Code of Conduct). Reports that violate our code of conduct will not be considered and may result in being banned from future participation.
No Harmful Actions: Security research and vulnerability reporting must not:
Cause damage to running systems or production environments.
Disrupt Node.js development or infrastructure.
Affect other users' applications or systems.
Include actual exploits that could harm users.
Involve social engineering or phishing attempts.
Responsible Testing: When testing potential vulnerabilities:
Use isolated, controlled environments.
Do not test on production systems without prior authorization. Contact the Node.js Technical Steering Committee (mailto:[email protected]) for permission or open a HackerOne report.
Do not attempt to access or modify other users' data.
Immediately stop testing if unauthorized access is gained accidentally.
Report Quality
Provide clear, detailed steps to reproduce the vulnerability.
Include only the minimum proof of concept required to demonstrate the issue.
Remove any malicious payloads or components that could cause harm.
Failure to follow these guidelines may result in:
Rejection of the vulnerability report.
Forfeiture of any potential bug bounty.
Temporary or permanent ban from the bug bounty program.
Legal action in cases of malicious intent.
In the Node.js threat model, there are trusted elements such as the underlying operating system. Vulnerabilities that require the compromise of these trusted elements are outside the scope of the Node.js threat model.
For a vulnerability to be eligible for a bug bounty, it must be a vulnerability in the context of the Node.js threat model. In other words, it cannot assume that a trusted element (such as the operating system) has been compromised.
Node.js maintains a tier-based support system for operating systems and hardware combinations (Tier 1, Tier 2, and Experimental). For platforms classified as "Experimental" in the [/nodejs/node/blob/main/BUILDING.md#supported-platforms](supported platforms) documentation:
Security vulnerabilities that only affect experimental platforms will not be accepted as valid security issues.
Any issues on experimental platforms will be treated as normal bugs.
No CVEs will be issued for issues that only affect experimental platforms
Bug bounty rewards are not available for experimental platform-specific issues
This policy recognizes that experimental platforms may not compile, may not pass the test suite, and do not have the same level of testing and support infrastructure as Tier 1 and Tier 2 platforms.
#experimental-features-behind-compile-time-flags
Node.js includes certain experimental features that are only available when Node.js is compiled with specific flags. These features are intended for development, debugging, or testing purposes and are not enabled in official releases.
Security vulnerabilities that only affect features behind compile-time flags will not be accepted as valid security issues.
Any issues with these features will be treated as normal bugs.
No CVEs will be issued for issues that only affect compile-time flag features.
Bug bounty rewards are not available for compile-time flag feature issues.
This policy recognizes that experimental features behind compile-time flags are not ready for public consumption and may have incomplete implementations, missing security hardening, or other limitations that make them unsuitable for production use.
#what-constitutes-a-vulnerability
Being able to cause the following through control of the elements that Node.js does not trust is considered a vulnerability:
Disclosure or loss of integrity or confidentiality of data protected through the correct use of Node.js APIs.
The unavailability of the runtime, including the unbounded degradation of its performance.
Memory leaks qualify as vulnerabilities when all of the following criteria are met:
The API is being correctly used.
The API doesn't have a warning against its usage in a production environment.
The API is public and documented.
The API is on stable (2.0) status.
The memory leak is significant enough to cause a denial of service quickly or in a context not controlled by the user (for example, HTTP parsing).
The memory leak is directly exploitable by an untrusted source without requiring application mistakes.
The leak cannot be reasonably mitigated through standard operational practices (like process recycling).
The leak occurs deterministically under normal usage patterns rather than edge cases.
The leak occurs at a rate that would cause practical resource exhaustion within a practical timeframe under typical workloads.
The attack demonstrates [https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/405.html](asymmetric resource consumption), where the attacker expends significantly fewer resources than what's required by the server to process the attack. Attacks requiring comparable resources on the attacker's side (which can be mitigated through common practices like rate limiting) may not qualify.
If Node.js loads configuration files or runs code by default (without a specific request from the user), and this is not documented, it is considered a vulnerability. Vulnerabilities related to this case may be fixed by a documentation update.
Node.js does NOT trust:
Data received from the remote end of inbound network connections that are accepted through the use of Node.js APIs and which is transformed/validated by Node.js before being passed to the application. This includes:
HTTP APIs (all flavors) server APIs.
The data received from the remote end of outbound network connections that are created through the use of Node.js APIs and which is transformed/validated by Node.js before being passed to the application except with respect to payload length. Node.js trusts that applications make connections/requests which will avoid payload sizes that will result in a Denial of Service.
HTTP APIs (all flavors) client APIs.
DNS APIs.
Consumers of data protected through the use of Node.js APIs (for example, people who have access to data encrypted through the Node.js crypto APIs).
The file content or other I/O that is opened for reading or writing by the use of Node.js APIs (ex: stdin, stdout, stderr).
In other words, if the data passing through Node.js to/from the application can trigger actions other than those documented for the APIs, there is likely a security vulnerability. Examples of unwanted actions are polluting globals, causing an unrecoverable crash, or any other unexpected side effects that can lead to a loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability.
For example, if trusted input (like secure application code) is correct, then untrusted input must not lead to arbitrary JavaScript code execution.
Node.js trusts everything else. Examples include:
The developers and infrastructure that run it.
The operating system that Node.js is running under and its configuration, along with anything under the control of the operating system.
The code it is asked to run, including JavaScript, WASM and native code, even if said code is dynamically loaded, e.g., all dependencies installed from the npm registry. The code run inherits all the privileges of the execution user.
Inputs provided to it by the code it is asked to run, as it is the responsibility of the application to perform the required input validations, e.g. the input to JSON.parse().
Any connection used for inspector (debugger protocol) regardless of being opened by command line options or Node.js APIs, and regardless of the remote end being on the local machine or remote.
The file system when requiring a module. See https://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#all-together.
The node:wasi module does not currently provide the comprehensive file system security properties provided by some WASI runtimes.
The execution path is trusted. Additionally, Node.js path manipulation functions such as path.join() and path.normalize() trust their input. Reports about issues related to these functions that rely on unsanitized input are not considered vulnerabilities requiring CVEs, as it's the user's responsibility to sanitize path inputs according to their security requirements.
Any unexpected behavior from the data manipulation from Node.js Internal functions may be considered a vulnerability if they are exploitable via untrusted resources.
In addition to addressing vulnerabilities based on the above, the project works to avoid APIs and internal implementations that make it "easy" for application code to use the APIs incorrectly in a way that results in vulnerabilities within the application code itself. While we don’t consider those vulnerabilities in Node.js itself and will not necessarily issue a CVE, we do want them to be reported privately to Node.js first. We often choose to work to improve our APIs based on those reports and issue fixes either in regular or security releases depending on how much of a risk to the community they pose.
[#improper-certificate-validation-cwe-295]()
[#inconsistent-interpretation-of-http-requests-cwe-444]()
[#missing-cryptographic-step-cwe-325]()
[#external-control-of-system-or-configuration-setting-cwe-15]()
#examples-of-non-vulnerabilities
[#malicious-third-party-modules-cwe-1357]()
[#prototype-pollution-attacks-cwe-1321]()
[#uncontrolled-search-path-element-cwe-427]()
[#external-control-of-system-or-configuration-setting-cwe-15-1]()
[#uncontrolled-resource-consumption-cwe-400-on-outbound-connections]()
#vulnerabilities-affecting-software-downloaded-by-corepack
[#exposing-application-level-apis-to-untrusted-users-cwe-653]()
Node.js trusts the application code that uses its APIs. When application code exposes Node.js functionality to untrusted users in an unsafe manner, any resulting crashes, data corruption, or other issues are not considered vulnerabilities in Node.js itself. It is the application's responsibility to:
Validate and sanitize all untrusted input before passing it to Node.js APIs.
Design appropriate access controls and security boundaries.
Avoid exposing low-level or dangerous APIs directly to untrusted users.
Examples of scenarios that are not Node.js vulnerabilities:
Allowing untrusted users to register SQLite user-defined functions via node:sqlite (DatabaseSync) that can perform arbitrary operations (e.g., closing database connections during query execution, causing crashes or use-after-free conditions).
Loading SQLite extensions using the allowExtension option in DatabaseSync — this option must be explicitly set to true by the application, and enabling it is the application operator's responsibility.
Using node:sqlite built-in SQL functions or pragmas (e.g., ATTACH DATABASE) to read or write files — DatabaseSync operates with the same file-system access as the process itself, and it is the application's responsibility to restrict what SQL is executed.
Exposing child_process.exec() or similar APIs to untrusted users without proper input validation, allowing command injection.
Allowing untrusted users to control file paths passed to file system APIs without validation, leading to path traversal issues.
Permitting untrusted users to define custom code that executes with the application's privileges (e.g., custom transforms, plugins, or callbacks).
These scenarios represent application-level security issues, not Node.js vulnerabilities. The root cause is the application's failure to establish proper security boundaries between trusted application logic and untrusted user input.
[#build-system-attacks-requiring-control-of-the-build-environment-cwe-78-cwe-114-cwe-276]()
The Node.js build system (e.g., configure, configure.py, Makefile, vcbuild.bat) is designed to run in a trusted build environment. The build environment, including environment variables, the file system, and locally installed tools, is a trusted element in the Node.js threat model.
Reports about command injection via environment variables in build scripts (e.g., CC, CXX, PKG_CONFIG, RUSTC), path hijacking in build output directories, or file permissions of build artifacts are not considered vulnerabilities. These scenarios require the attacker to already have control over the build environment, which means the system is already compromised.
Build scripts are not a security boundary. They are expected to execute tools and scripts specified by the environment, and to trust the file system they operate on.
[#unhandled-error-events-on-eventemitters-cwe-248]()
EventEmitters that can emit 'error' events require the application to attach an 'error' event handler. This includes HTTP streams and other Node.js core streams. If the application fails to attach an 'error' handler, the EventEmitter will throw an uncaught exception, which may crash the process.
Crashes resulting from missing 'error' handlers are not considered denial-of-service vulnerabilities in Node.js. It is the application's responsibility to properly handle errors by attaching appropriate 'error' event listeners to EventEmitters that may emit errors.
#permission-model-boundaries---permission
The Node.js [https://nodejs.org/api/permissions.html](Permission Model) (--experimental-permission) is an opt-in mechanism that limits which resources a Node.js process may access. It is designed to reduce the blast radius of mistakes in trusted application code, not to act as a security boundary against intentional misuse or a compromised process.
The following are not vulnerabilities in Node.js:
Operator-controlled flags: Behavior unlocked by flags the operator explicitly passes (e.g., --localstorage-file) is the operator's responsibility. The permission model does not restrict how Node.js behaves when the operator intentionally configures it.
node:sqlite and the permission model: DatabaseSync operates with the same file-system privileges as the process. Using SQL pragmas or built-in SQLite mechanisms (e.g., ATTACH DATABASE) to access files does not bypass the permission model — the permission model does not intercept SQL-level file operations.
Path resolution and symlinks: fs.realpathSync(), fs.realpath(), and similar functions resolve a path to its canonical form before the permission check is applied. Accessing a file through a symlink that resolves to an allowed path is the intended behavior, not a bypass. TOCTOU races on symlinks that resolve within the allowed list are similarly not considered permission model bypasses.
worker_threads with modified execArgv: Workers inherit the permission restrictions of their parent process. Passing an empty or modified execArgv to a worker does not grant it additional permissions.
The V8 sandbox is an in-process isolation mechanism internal to V8 that is not a Node.js security boundary. Node.js does not guarantee or document the V8 sandbox as a security feature, and it is not enabled in a way that provides security guarantees in production Node.js builds. Reports about escaping the V8 sandbox are not considered Node.js vulnerabilities; they should be reported directly to the [https://v8.dev/docs/security-bugs](V8 project).
#crlf-injection-in-writeearlyhints
ServerResponse.writeEarlyHints() accepts a link header value that is set by the application. Passing arbitrary strings, including CRLF sequences, as the link value is an application-level misuse of the API, not a Node.js vulnerability. Node.js validates the structure of Early Hints per the HTTP spec but does not sanitize free-form application data passed to it; that is the application's responsibility.
#assessing-experimental-features-reports
Experimental features are eligible for security reports just like any other stable feature of Node.js. They may also receive the same severity score that a stable feature would.
Security notifications will be distributed via the following methods.
When security releases are published, there is a built-in delay before the corresponding CVEs are publicly disclosed. This delay occurs because:
After the security release, we request the vulnerability reporter to disclose the details on HackerOne.
If the reporter does not disclose within one day, we proceed with forced disclosure to publish the CVEs.
The disclosure then goes through HackerOne's approval process before the CVEs become publicly available.
As a result, CVEs may not be immediately available when security releases are published, but will typically be disclosed within a few days of the release.
If you have suggestions on how this process could be improved, please visit the https://github.com/nodejs/security-wg repository.
In the event of a security incident, please refer to the [https://github.com/nodejs/security-wg/blob/main/INCIDENT_RESPONSE_PLAN.md](Security Incident Response Plan).
Node.js security team members are expected to keep all information that they have privileged access to by being on the team completely private to the team. This includes agreeing to not notify anyone outside the team of issues that have not yet been disclosed publicly, including the existence of issues, expectations of upcoming releases, and patching of any issues other than in the process of their work as a member of the security team.
#nodejs-security-team-membership-policy
The Node.js Security Team has access to security-sensitive issues and patches that aren't appropriate for public availability.
The policy for inclusion is as follows:
All members of @nodejs/TSC have access to private security reports and private patches.
Members of the @nodejs/releasers team have access to private security patches in order to produce releases.
On a case-by-case basis, individuals outside the Technical Steering Committee are invited by the TSC to have access to private security reports or private patches so that their expertise can be applied to an issue or patch. This access may be temporary or permanent, as decided by the TSC.
Membership on the security teams can be requested via an issue in the TSC repo.
#team-responsible-for-triaging-security-reports
The responsibility of Triage is to determine whether Node.js must take any action to mitigate the issue, and if so, to ensure that the action is taken.
Mitigation may take many forms, for example, a Node.js security release that includes a fix, documentation, an informational CVE or blog post.
https://github.com/mcollina - Matteo Collina
https://github.com/RafaelGSS - Rafael Gonzaga
https://github.com/vdeturckheim - Vladimir de Turckheim
https://github.com/BethGriggs - Beth Griggs
#team-with-access-to-private-security-reports-against-nodejs
[https://github.com/nodejs/node#tsc-voting-members](TSC voting members) have access.
In addition, these individuals have access:
https://github.com/BethGriggs - Beth Griggs
https://github.com/MylesBorins - Myles Borins
https://github.com/bengl- Bryan English
https://github.com/bnoordhuis Ben Noordhuis
https://github.com/cjihrig Colin Ihrig
https://github.com/joesepi - Joe Sepi
https://github.com/juanarbol Juan Jose Arboleda
https://github.com/ulisesgascon Ulises Gascón
https://github.com/vdeturckheim - Vladimir de Turckheim
The list is from the [https://hackerone.com/organizations/nodejs/settings/users](member page) for the Node.js program on HackerOne.
#team-with-access-to-private-security-patches-to-nodejs
https://github.com/aduh95 - Antoine du Hamel
https://github.com/anonrig - Yagiz Nizipli
https://github.com/bengl - Bryan English
https://github.com/benjamingr - Benjamin Gruenbaum
https://github.com/bmeck - Bradley Farias
https://github.com/bnoordhuis - Ben Noordhuis
https://github.com/BridgeAR - Ruben Bridgewater
https://github.com/gireeshpunathil - Gireesh Punathil
https://github.com/guybedford - Guy Bedford
https://github.com/indutny - Fedor Indutny
https://github.com/jasnell - James M Snell
https://github.com/joaocgreis - João Reis
https://github.com/joesepi - Joe Sepi
https://github.com/joyeecheung - Joyee Cheung
https://github.com/juanarbol - Juan José
https://github.com/legendecas - Chengzhong Wu
https://github.com/marco-ippolito - Marco Ippolito
https://github.com/mcollina - Matteo Collina
https://github.com/MoLow - Moshe Atlow
https://github.com/panva - Filip Skokan
https://github.com/RafaelGSS - Rafael Gonzaga
https://github.com/richardlau - Richard Lau
https://github.com/ronag - Robert Nagy
https://github.com/ruyadorno - Ruy Adorno
https://github.com/santigimeno - Santiago Gimeno
https://github.com/ShogunPanda - Paolo Insogna
https://github.com/targos - Michaël Zasso
https://github.com/tniessen - Tobias Nießen
https://github.com/UlisesGascon - Ulises Gascón
https://github.com/vdeturckheim - Vladimir de Turckheim