CVE-2023-32559

Exp

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the experimental policy mechanism in all active release lines: 16.x, 18.x and, 20.x. The use of the deprecated API `process.binding()` can bypass the policy mechanism by requiring internal modules and eventually take advantage of `process.binding('spawn_sync')` run arbitrary code, outside of the limits defined in a `policy.json` file. Please note that at the time this CVE was issued, the policy is an experimental feature of Node.js.

Published: 2023-08-23 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-32559 is rated High Exploit Risk (71.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.48%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.43% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-32559

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-32559

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.06% 1.48% +1.43%
2 2025-11-21 0.27% 0.06% -0.21%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.27% —

Full EPSS history (19 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-32559

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-32559

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-32559

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-32559: 1 source package rows (nodejs); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 7, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-32559
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-32559 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (nodejs), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-32559
gentoo low CVE-2023-32559: 1 GLSA(s) (202405-29), 1 atom(s) (net-libs/nodejs); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-32559
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-32559
suse medium CVE-2023-32559 severity moderate: SUSE including 61 source package names (16-18.3:nodejs16-16.20.2-150400.3.24.1, 16-18.3:npm16-16.20.2-150400.3.24.1, …), 220 product×package rows across 23 product lines (Container bci/node, Container bci/nodejs, … (23 product lines)): Fixed 220. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-32559/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-32559 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nodejs), 9 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 5, released 2, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-32559

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-32559

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
nodejs node.js >= 16.0.0, <= 16.20.1 cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
nodejs node.js >= 18.0.0, <= 18.17.0 cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
nodejs node.js >= 20.0.0, <= 20.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:-:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-32559

cvelogic Threat Intelligence