The Electron framework enables writing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. In versions prior to 21.0.0-beta.1, 20.0.1, 19.0.11, and 18.3.7, Electron is vulnerable to Exposure of Sensitive Information. When following a redirect, Electron delays a check for redirecting to file:// URLs from other schemes. The contents of the file is not available to the renderer following the redirect, but if the redirect target is a SMB URL such as file://some.website.com/, then in some cases, Windows will connect to that server and attempt NTLM authentication, which can include sending hashed credentials.This issue has been patched in versions: 21.0.0-beta.1, 20.0.1, 19.0.11, and 18.3.7. Users are recommended to upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron. If upgrading isnt possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by preventing redirects to file:// URLs in the WebContents.on(will-redirect) event, for all WebContents as a workaround.
The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electron | Electronjs | * | 18.3.7 (excluding) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 19.0.0 (including) | 19.0.11 (excluding) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 20.0.0 (including) | 20.0.1 (excluding) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 21.0.0 (including) | 21.0.0 (including) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 21.0.0-alpha1 (including) | 21.0.0-alpha1 (including) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 21.0.0-alpha2 (including) | 21.0.0-alpha2 (including) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 21.0.0-alpha3 (including) | 21.0.0-alpha3 (including) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 21.0.0-alpha4 (including) | 21.0.0-alpha4 (including) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 21.0.0-alpha5 (including) | 21.0.0-alpha5 (including) |
| Electron | Electronjs | 21.0.0-alpha6 (including) | 21.0.0-alpha6 (including) |
There are many different kinds of mistakes that introduce information exposures. The severity of the error can range widely, depending on the context in which the product operates, the type of sensitive information that is revealed, and the benefits it may provide to an attacker. Some kinds of sensitive information include:
Information might be sensitive to different parties, each of which may have their own expectations for whether the information should be protected. These parties include:
Information exposures can occur in different ways:
It is common practice to describe any loss of confidentiality as an “information exposure,” but this can lead to overuse of CWE-200 in CWE mapping. From the CWE perspective, loss of confidentiality is a technical impact that can arise from dozens of different weaknesses, such as insecure file permissions or out-of-bounds read. CWE-200 and its lower-level descendants are intended to cover the mistakes that occur in behaviors that explicitly manage, store, transfer, or cleanse sensitive information.