CVE-2024-21896 [Critical] | Path Traversal in Node.js

The permission model protects itself against path traversal attacks by calling path.resolve() on any paths given by the user. If the path is to be treated as a Buffer, the implementation uses Buffer.from() to obtain a Buffer from the result of path.resolve(). By monkey-patching Buffer internals, namely, Buffer.prototype.utf8Write, the application can modify the result of path.resolve(), which leads to a path traversal vulnerability. This vulnerability affects all users using the experimental permission model in Node.js 20 and Node.js 21. Please note that at the time this CVE was issued, the permission model is an experimental feature of Node.js.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	1.64%	1.26%	-0.38%
2	2026-03-10	1.19%	1.64%	+0.45%
3	2026-03-04	—	1.19%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

1.64%

1.26%

-0.38%

2026-03-10

1.19%

1.64%

+0.45%

2026-03-04

—

1.19%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
9.8	3.1	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. 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.	3.9	5.9	[email protected]
7.9	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. 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:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.5	5.8	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

9.8

3.1

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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.

3.9

5.9

[email protected]

7.9

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

1.5

5.8

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-21896

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2024-21896: 1 source package rows (nodejs); 7 state rows across 2 repos (3.19-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 7.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-21896
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2024-21896 unimportant 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-2024-21896
`gentoo`	high	CVE-2024-21896: 1 GLSA(s) (202505-11), 1 atom(s) (net-libs/nodejs); latest impact high.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2024-21896
`redhat`	high	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-21896
`suse`	high	CVE-2024-21896 severity important: SUSE including 65 source package names (20-6.12:nodejs20-20.11.1-150500.11.6.1, 20-6.12:npm20-20.11.1-150500.11.6.1, …), 247 product×package rows across 26 product lines (Container bci/nodejs, SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, … (26 product lines)): Known Not Affected 210, Fixed 37.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-21896/
`ubuntu`	high	CVE-2024-21896 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nodejs), 11 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 8, ignored 3.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-21896

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-21896

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
nodejs	node.js	>= 20.0.0, < 20.11.1	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::-:::*
nodejs	node.js	>= 21.0.0, < 21.6.2	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::-:::*

References for CVE-2024-21896

URL	Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/11/1	Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://hackerone.com/reports/2218653	Issue Tracking
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240329-0002/	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2024-21896

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-21896

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-21896

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-21896

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-21896

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-21896

References for CVE-2024-21896