CVE-2025-55130 [Critical] | Security Bypass in Node.js

A flaw in Node.js’s Permissions model allows attackers to bypass `--allow-fs-read` and `--allow-fs-write` restrictions using crafted relative symlink paths. By chaining directories and symlinks, a script granted access only to the current directory can escape the allowed path and read sensitive files. This breaks the expected isolation guarantees and enables arbitrary file read/write, leading to potential system compromise. This vulnerability affects users of the permission model on Node.js v20, v22, v24, and v25.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-01-21	—	0.01%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-01-21

—

0.01%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
9.1	3.1	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N` 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:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	3.9	5.2	[email protected]
7.1	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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: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:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.8	5.2	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

9.1

3.1

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

3.9

5.2

[email protected]

7.1

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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: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:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

1.8

5.2

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-55130

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2025-55130: 1 source package rows (nodejs); 54 state rows across 6 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 4, open 50.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2025-55130
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2025-55130 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-2025-55130
`redhat`	high	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-55130
`suse`	high	CVE-2025-55130 severity important: SUSE including 83 source package names (2.1.3-6.15:qemu-guest-agent-8.2.9-1.1, corepack20-20.20.0-150600.3.15.1, …), 233 product×package rows across 38 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container, Image SL-Micro, … (38 product lines)): Fixed 149, Known Not Affected 79, First Fixed 5.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-55130/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2025-55130 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nodejs), 9 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 7, ignored 1, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-55130

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-55130

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
nodejs	node.js	>= 20.0.0, < 20.20.0	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::-:::*
nodejs	node.js	>= 22.0.0, < 22.22.0	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::-:::*
nodejs	node.js	>= 24.0.0, < 24.13.0	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::-:::*
nodejs	node.js	>= 25.0.0, < 25.3.0	cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:::::-:::*

References for CVE-2025-55130

URL	Tags
https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/december-2025-security-releases	Release Notes Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2025-55130

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-55130

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-55130

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-55130

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-55130

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-55130

References for CVE-2025-55130