GHSA-r825-w8mm-5pxw CVE-2026-112944
launch-editor: Editor CLI flag misinterpretation causing arbitrary command execution for some editors
Medium
npm
- Severity
- 6.3 / 10
- Medium · CVSS 4.0
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- 0.70%
- Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 53.38% of scored vulnerabilities.
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- CWE-88 Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')
- Fix
- Available
- 3 packages have a fixed version
Description
Summary
launch-editor forwarded file paths directly to editors without sanitization. If a path resembles a CLI flag, editors like Vim may interpret it as a command, potentially causing unintended file overwrites or command execution.
Impact
Direct launch-editor users
Only apps that match all of the following conditions are affected:
- The attacker is able to create a file system entry (e.g. a file or directory) starting with
+or-in the working directory - The user uses or the app specifies any of the following editors:
- Vim (including gVim)
- MacVim
- Emacs (including Emacsclient)
- Notepad++ (only if using a plugin exposing dangerous operations via plugin messages)
- The first argument of
launchEditorcan start with+or-or the user is using WSL
launch-editor-middleware users
Only apps that match the following conditions are affected:
- The attacker is able to create a file system entry (e.g. a file or directory) starting with
+or-in the working directory - The user uses or the app specifies any of the following editors:
- Vim (including gVim)
- MacVim
- Emacs (including Emacsclient)
- Notepad++ (only if using a plugin exposing dangerous operations via plugin messages)
- launch-editor older than v2.2.0 is used, or the user is using WSL
Vite users
Only apps that match the following conditions are affected:
- The attacker is able to create a file system entry (e.g. a file or directory) starting with
+or-in the working directory - The user uses or the app specifies any of the following editors:
- Vim (including gVim)
- MacVim
- Emacs (including Emacsclient)
- Notepad++ (only if using a plugin exposing dangerous operations via plugin messages)
- The user is using WSL
Details
launchEditor(file) function passes the file name as-is to the editor if the file with that file name exists. If the file name starts with - (also + for Vim), the editor treats them as flags rather than positional arguments. For example, Vim treats arguments starting with + as an Ex command. As a result, an existing relative directory such as:
+call writefile(["SAFE_MARKER"],"LAUNCH_EDITOR_MARKER")|qa!
is not treated as a filename when passed to Vim. Vim executes the embedded Ex command.
The following editor has a potentially destructive operation exposed to the CLI arguments:
- Vim (including gVim)
- MacVim
- Emacs (including Emacsclient)
- Notepad++ (only if using a plugin exposing dangerous operations via plugin messages)
launch-editor-middleware v2.2.0+ converts the passed file path to an absolute path so those are not affected as long as the user is not using WSL. For WSL, launch-editor converts the paths to relative paths internally, so those are still affected.
Vite 2.0.0+ uses launch-editor-middleware v2.2.0+ so the WSL users are only affected.
Affected versions
npm
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| launch-editor | <= 2.14.1 |
No fix yet |
| launch-editor | < 2.14.2 |
2.14.2 |
| vite | >= 8.3.0, <= 8.3.2 |
No fix yet |
| vite | >= 8.2.0, <= 8.2.3 |
No fix yet |
| vite | >= 8.0.0, <= 8.1.5 |
No fix yet |
| vite | >= 7.0.0, <= 7.3.6 |
No fix yet |
| vite | <= 6.4.3 |
No fix yet |
| vite | >= 8.3.0, < 8.3.3 |
8.3.3 |
| vite | >= 8.2.0, < 8.2.4 |
8.2.4 |
| vite | >= 8.0.0, < 8.1.6 |
8.1.6 |
| vite | >= 7.0.0, < 7.3.7 |
7.3.7 |
| vite | < 6.4.4 |
6.4.4 |
| vite-plus | <= 1.0.0 |
No fix yet |
| vite-plus | < 1.1.0 |
1.1.0 |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
launch-editor npm → 2.14.2
- npm
npm install launch-editor@2.14.2- yarn
yarn add launch-editor@2.14.2- pnpm
pnpm add launch-editor@2.14.2
vite npm → 8.3.3
- npm
npm install vite@8.3.3- yarn
yarn add vite@8.3.3- pnpm
pnpm add vite@8.3.3
vite-plus npm → 1.1.0
- npm
npm install vite-plus@1.1.0- yarn
yarn add vite-plus@1.1.0- pnpm
pnpm add vite-plus@1.1.0
Severity breakdown
CVSS 4.0 6.3
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
- Low
- Integrity (vulnerable system)
- Low
- Availability (vulnerable system)
- Low
- Confidentiality (subsequent systems)
- None
- Integrity (subsequent systems)
- None
- Availability (subsequent systems)
- None
Weakness
CWE-88: Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')
The product constructs a string for a command to be executed by a separate component in another control sphere, but it does not properly delimit the intended arguments, options, or switches within that command string.
How to prevent it
- Implementation: Where possible, avoid building a single string that contains the command and its arguments. Some languages or frameworks have functions that support specifying independent arguments, e.g. as an array, which is used to automatically perform the appropriate quoting or escaping while building the command. For example, in PHP, escapeshellarg() can be used to escape a single argument to system(), or exec() can be called with an array of arguments. In C, code can often be refactored from using system() - which accepts a single string - to using exec(), which requires separate function arguments for each parameter.
- Architecture and Design: Understand all the potential areas where untrusted inputs can enter your product: parameters or arguments, cookies, anything read from the network, environment variables, request headers as well as content, URL components, e-mail, files, databases, and any external systems that provide data to the application. Perform input validation at well-defined interfaces.
- Implementation: Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does. When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, "boat" may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as "red" or "blue." Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code's environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.
- Implementation: Directly convert your input type into the expected data type, such as using a conversion function that translates a string into a number. After converting to the expected data type, ensure that the input's values fall within the expected range of allowable values and that multi-field consistencies are maintained.
- Implementation: Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180, CWE-181). Make sure that your application does not inadvertently decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked. Use libraries such as the OWASP ESAPI Canonicalization control. Consider performing repeated canonicalization until your input does not change any more. This will avoid double-decoding and similar scenarios, but it might inadvertently modify inputs that are allowed to contain properly-encoded dangerous content.
- Implementation: When exchanging data between components, ensure that both components are using the same character encoding. Ensure that the proper encoding is applied at each interface. Explicitly set the encoding you are using whenever the protocol allows you to do so.
- Implementation: When your application combines data from multiple sources, perform the validation after the sources have been combined. The individual data elements may pass the validation step but violate the intended restrictions after they have been combined.
- Testing: Use dynamic tools and techniques that interact with the product using large test suites with many diverse inputs, such as fuzz testing (fuzzing), robustness testing, and fault injection. The product's operation may slow down, but it should not become unstable, crash, or generate incorrect results.
References
Advisories
Fixes and patches
Packages
Other links
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
- Latest EPSS score
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| GHSA-4r4m-qw57-chr8 Vite has a `server.fs.deny` bypassed for `inline` and `raw` with `?import` query | High Known exploited | Also affects vite |
| GHSA-8g5g-mxqh-grgj Vite: `server.fs.deny` bypassed with queries | Medium | Also affects vite |
| GHSA-vfpm-58rq-9qcg Vite: First 4 bytes of files outside of `server.fs` setting is exposed by `?vite-wasm-instance` | Medium | Also affects vite |
| GHSA-rq7h-c2jc-7f22 Vite: Files outside `server.fs.allow` could be served when project paths match system paths on non-Windows machine | Medium | Also affects vite |
| GHSA-9jrq-w75r-8gcw Vite: Cross origin script execution through Vite custom middleware | Low | Also affects vite |
| GHSA-698v-4r3x-3vcv launch-editor: escapeCmdArgs() omits % escaping on Windows | Medium | Also affects launch-editor |
| GHSA-587h-7wmj-h5pm launch-editor: `fs.existsSync()` existence check can be bypassed on Windows | High | Also affects launch-editor |
| GHSA-v6wh-96g9-6wx3 launch-editor: NTLMv2 hash disclosure via UNC path handling on Windows | Medium | Also affects launch-editor |
Credits: 0xazanul, bluwy
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