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Medium

Electron: Registry key path injection in app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient on Windows

  • Disclosed: 03.04.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Impact

On Windows, app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient(protocol) did not validate the protocol name before writing to the registry. Apps that pass untrusted input as the protocol name may allow an attacker to write to arbitrary subkeys under HKCU\Software\Classes\, potentially hijacking existing protocol handlers.

Apps are only affected if they call app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient() with a protocol name derived from external or untrusted input. Apps that use a hardcoded protocol name are not affected.

Workarounds

Validate the protocol name matches /^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9+.-]*$/ before passing it to app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient().

Fixed Versions

  • 41.0.0
  • 40.8.1
  • 39.8.1
  • 38.8.6

For more information

If there are any questions or comments about this advisory, please email security@electronjs.org

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
npm package electron < 38.8.6, >= 39.0.0-alpha.1, < 39.8.1, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.8.1, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.0.0 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.1, 41.0.0

References

CVSS score 4.7/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-20, CWE-74
Platform
npm
Package
electron
Disclosed
03.04.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-mwmh-mq4g-g6gr - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: electron

All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (71) in the archive
Total entries
71
First → latest
10.2017 09.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
3

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 3
  • High 26
  • Medium 32
  • Low 10

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. Electron drops inherited HTML sandbox restrictions for popups opened through OpenURLFromTab
    High · 8.2 CVE-2026-102673 < 41.10.4, >= 42.0.0-alpha.1, < 42.5.2, >= 43.0.0-alpha.1, < 43.0.0 41.10.4, 42.5.2, 43.0.0
  2. Electron: Windows opened from a sandboxed top-level document do not inherit its sandbox restrictions
    High · 8.2 CVE-2026-102674 < 41.10.6, >= 42.0.0-alpha.1, < 42.9.2, >= 43.0.0-alpha.1, < 43.4.1, >= 44.0.0-alpha.1, < 44.0.0-beta.5 41.10.6, 42.9.2, 43.4.1, 44.0.0-beta.5
  3. Electron: File and HTTP protocol handlers allow cross-origin reads without corsEnabled
    High · 7.4 CVE-2026-102675 < 41.10.6, >= 42.0.0-alpha.1, < 42.9.2, >= 43.0.0-alpha.1, < 43.4.1, >= 44.0.0-alpha.1, < 44.0.0-beta.5 41.10.6, 42.9.2, 43.4.1, 44.0.0-beta.5
  4. Electron: <webview> can enable Node.js integration in Web Workers despite embedder restrictions
    High · 8.3 CVE-2026-102676 < 41.10.6, >= 42.0.0-alpha.1, < 42.9.2, >= 43.0.0-alpha.1, < 43.4.1, >= 44.0.0-alpha.1, < 44.0.0-beta.5 41.10.6, 42.9.2, 43.4.1, 44.0.0-beta.5
  5. Electron: Sandboxed preload code cache can be poisoned by a compromised renderer
    High · 7.8 CVE-2026-102677 >= 42.3.3, < 42.10.0, >= 43.0.0-beta.1, < 43.5.0, >= 44.0.0-alpha.1, < 44.0.0-beta.6 42.10.0, 43.5.0, 44.0.0-beta.6
  6. Electron: Sandboxed iframe can bypass the allow-popups restriction via the OpenURL navigation path
    High · 7.2 CVE-2026-70608 >= 42.0.0-alpha.1, < 42.0.1, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.10.3, < 39.8.10 42.0.1, 41.10.3, 39.8.10
  7. Electron: Custom protocol with supportFetchAPI but not corsEnabled allows cross-origin reads
    High · 7.4 CVE-2026-70604 >= 42.0.0-alpha.1, < 42.0.0, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.4.0, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.9.3, < 39.8.10 42.0.0, 41.4.0, 40.9.3, 39.8.10
  8. Electron: Context isolation bypass via Function.prototype.bind hijack
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-70601 < 39.8.9, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.9.2, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.2.2, >= 42.0.0-alpha.1, < 42.0.0-beta.5 39.8.9, 40.9.2, 41.2.2, 42.0.0-beta.5
  9. Electron: Buffer performs incorrect byte length calculations resulting in heap buffer under/overflow
    Critical CVE-2026-54257 >= 42.3.1, < 42.3.3 42.3.3
  10. Electron: Context Isolation bypass via contextBridge VideoFrame transfer
    High · 8.3 CVE-2026-34780 >= 39.0.0-alpha.1, < 39.8.0, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.7.0, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.0.0-beta.8 39.8.0, 40.7.0, 41.0.0-beta.8
  11. Electron: Use-after-free in offscreen child window paint callback
    High · 8.1 CVE-2026-34774 < 39.8.1, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.7.0, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.0.0 39.8.1, 40.7.0, 41.0.0
  12. Electron: Registry key path injection in app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient on Windows this entry
    Medium · 4.7 CVE-2026-34773 < 38.8.6, >= 39.0.0-alpha.1, < 39.8.1, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.8.1, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.0.0 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.1, 41.0.0
  13. Electron: Use-after-free in WebContents fullscreen, pointer-lock, and keyboard-lock permission callbacks
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-34771 < 38.8.6, >= 39.0.0-alpha.1, < 39.8.0, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.7.0, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.0.0-beta.8 38.8.6, 39.8.0, 40.7.0, 41.0.0-beta.8
  14. Electron: Use-after-free in PowerMonitor on Windows and macOS
    High · 7.0 CVE-2026-34770 < 38.8.6, >= 39.0.0-alpha.1, < 39.8.1, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.8.0, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.0.0-beta.8 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.0, 41.0.0-beta.8
  15. Electron: Renderer command-line switch injection via undocumented commandLineSwitches webPreference
    High · 7.7 CVE-2026-34769 < 38.8.6, >= 39.0.0-alpha.1, < 39.8.0, >= 40.0.0-alpha.1, < 40.7.0, >= 41.0.0-alpha.1, < 41.0.0-beta.8 38.8.6, 39.8.0, 40.7.0, 41.0.0-beta.8
  16. electron ASAR Integrity bypass by just modifying the content
    High · 7.8 CVE-2024-46992 >= 30.0.0-alpha.1, < 30.0.5, >= 31.0.0-alpha.1, < 31.0.0-beta.1 30.0.5, 31.0.0-beta.1
  17. Electron affected by libvpx's heap buffer overflow in vp8 encoding
    High · 8.8 Exploited in attacks CVE-2023-5217 < 22.3.25, >= 24.0.0, < 24.8.5, >= 25.0.0, < 25.8.4, >= 26.0.0, < 26.2.4, >= 27.0.0-alpha.1, < 27.0.0-beta.8 22.3.25, 24.8.5, 25.8.4, 26.2.4, 27.0.0-beta.8
  18. libwebp: OOB write in BuildHuffmanTable
    High · 8.8 Exploited in attacks CVE-2023-4863 >= 22.0.0, < 22.3.24, >= 24.0.0, < 24.8.3, >= 25.0.0, < 25.8.1, >= 26.0.0, < 26.2.1, >= 27.0.0-beta.1, < 27.0.0-beta.2 22.3.24, 24.8.3, 25.8.1, 26.2.1, 27.0.0-beta.2
  19. Electron's Content-Secrity-Policy disabling eval not applied consistently in renderers with sandbox disabled
    High · 7.5 CVE-2023-23623 >= 22.0.0-beta.1, < 22.0.1, >= 23.0.0-alpha.1, < 23.0.0-alpha.2 22.0.1, 23.0.0-alpha.2
  20. Heap buffer overflow in GPU
    Critical · 9.6 Exploited in attacks CVE-2022-4135 >= 19.0.0, < 19.1.8 19.1.8
  21. Electron vulnerable to remote command execution
    High · 8.1 CVE-2017-12581 < 1.6.8 1.6.8
  22. Unpreventable top-level navigation
    High · 7.5 CVE-2020-15174 >= 8.0.0-beta.0, < 8.5.1, >= 9.0.0-beta.0, < 9.3.0, >= 10.0.0-beta.0, < 10.0.1 8.5.1, 9.3.0, 10.0.1
  23. Context isolation bypass via contextBridge in Electron
    High · 7.7 CVE-2020-4077 < 7.2.4, >= 8.0.0, < 8.2.4 7.2.4, 8.2.4
  24. Context isolation bypass via leaked cross-context objects in Electron
    High · 7.8 CVE-2020-4076 < 7.2.4, >= 8.0.0, < 8.2.4 7.2.4, 8.2.4
  25. Electron webPreferences vulnerability can be used to perform remote code execution
    High · 8.1 CVE-2018-15685 >= 1.7.0, < 1.7.16, >= 1.8.0, < 1.8.8, >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.8, >= 3.0.0-beta.1, < 3.0.0-beta.7 1.7.16, 1.8.8, 2.0.8, 3.0.0-beta.7
  26. Chromium Remote Code Execution in electron
    Critical · 9.8 CVE-2017-16151 < 1.6.14, >= 1.7.0, < 1.7.8 1.6.14, 1.7.8
  27. Electron protocol handler browser vulnerable to Command Injection
    High · 8.8 CVE-2018-1000118 < 1.8.2-beta5 1.8.2-beta5
  28. Electron Vulnerable to Code Execution by Re-Enabling Node.js Integration
    High · 8.1 CVE-2018-1000136 >= 1.7.0, < 1.7.13, >= 1.8.0, < 1.8.4, >= 2.0.0-beta.1, < 2.0.0-beta.5 1.7.13, 1.8.4, 2.0.0-beta.5
  29. Remote Code Execution in electron
    High · 8.8 CVE-2018-1000006 >= 1.7.0, < 1.7.11, >= 1.6.0, < 1.6.16, >= 1.8.0, < 1.8.2-beta.4 1.7.11, 1.6.16, 1.8.2-beta.4
  30. High severity vulnerability that affects electron
    High · 7.8 CVE-2016-1202 < 0.33.5 0.33.5

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