CVE-2024-39698 — electron-updater allows for automatic updates for Electron apps

electron-updater allows for automatic updates for Electron apps. The file `packages/electron-updater/src/windowsExecutableCodeSignatureVerifier.ts` implements the signature validation routine for Electron applications on Windows. Because of the surrounding shell, a first pass by

01What is this vulnerability?

electron-updater allows for automatic updates for Electron apps. The file `packages/electron-updater/src/windowsExecutableCodeSignatureVerifier.ts` implements the signature validation routine for Electron applications on Windows. Because of the surrounding shell, a first pass by `cmd.exe` expands any environment variable found in command-line above. This creates a situation where…

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
electron-userland	electron	builder — < 6.3.0-alpha.6

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Open the Sigma generator with a pre-filled prompt for this CVE to draft a starting detection in your stack of choice:

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07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2024-07-09T17:50:28.169Z
• Last modified: 2024-08-02T04:26:15.985Z

09References

• github.com — https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/security/advisories/GHSA-9…
• github.com — https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/pull/8295
• github.com — https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/commit/ac2e6a25aa491c1ef51…
• github.com — https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/blob/140e2f0eb0df79c2a46e3…