CVE-2023-23623

Electron is a framework which lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a script-src directive and not providing unsafe-eval in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox disabled. i.e. sandbox: false in the webPreferences object. This allows usage of methods like eval() and new Function unexpectedly which can result in an expanded attack surface. This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes: 22.0.1 and 23.0.0-alpha.2 We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron. If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling sandbox: true on all renderers.

Electron is a framework which lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a script-src directive and not providing unsafe-eval in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox disabled. i.e. sandbox: false in the webPreferences object. This allows usage of methods like eval() and new Function unexpectedly which can result in an expanded attack surface. This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes: 22.0.1 and 23.0.0-alpha.2 We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron. If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling sandbox: true on all renderers.

Impact

A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a script-src directive and not providing unsafe-eval in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox and contextIsolation disabled. i.e. sandbox: false and contextIsolation: false in the webPreferences object.

This resulted in incorrectly allowing usage of methods like eval() and new Function, which can result in an expanded attack surface.

Patches

This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes:

• 22.0.1
• 23.0.0-alpha.2

We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron, especially if they use sandbox: false or contextIsolation: false.

Workarounds

If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling at least one of sandbox: true or contextIsolation: true on all renderers.

const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
  webPreferences: {
    sandbox: true,
  }
});

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [email protected].

Credit

Thanks to user @andreasdj for reporting this issue.

Electron is a framework which lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a script-src directive and not providing unsafe-eval in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox disabled. i.e. sandbox: false in the webPreferences object. This allows usage of methods like eval() and new Function unexpectedly which can result in an expanded attack surface. This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes: 22.0.1 and 23.0.0-alpha.2 We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron. If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling sandbox: true on all renderers.

Electron is a framework which lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a script-src directive and not providing unsafe-eval in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox disabled. i.e. sandbox: false in the webPreferences object. This allows usage of methods like eval() and new Function unexpectedly which can result in an expanded attack surface. This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes: 22.0.1 and 23.0.0-alpha.2 We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron. If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling sandbox: true on all renderers.

Impact

A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a script-src directive and not providing unsafe-eval in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox and contextIsolation disabled. i.e. sandbox: false and contextIsolation: false in the webPreferences object.

This resulted in incorrectly allowing usage of methods like eval() and new Function, which can result in an expanded attack surface.

Patches

This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes:

• 22.0.1
• 23.0.0-alpha.2

We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron, especially if they use sandbox: false or contextIsolation: false.

Workarounds

If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling at least one of sandbox: true or contextIsolation: true on all renderers.

const mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
  webPreferences: {
    sandbox: true,
  }
});

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [email protected].

Credit

Thanks to user @andreasdj for reporting this issue.

These are all security issues fixed in the nodejs-electron-22.3.6-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.