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BeakerApplication · Beakerbrowser

CVE-2020-12079

CRITICAL · 10.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.8.9 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Beaker before 0.8.9 allows a sandbox escape, enabling system access and code execution. This occurs because Electron context isolation is not used, and therefore an attacker can conduct a prototype-pollution attack against the Electron internal messaging API.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Beaker browser before 0.8.9 lacks Electron context isolation, allowing a prototype-pollution attack against the Electron internal messaging API. This enables a sandbox escape granting attackers system access and arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade to Beaker 0.8.9 or later which implements context isolation, and audit the codebase for additional prototype-pollution vulnerabilities in the Electron IPC communication layer.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
BeakerApplication
Affected:< 0.8.9

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine Beaker browser version
    Open Beaker browser, then navigate to the internal debug page at 'beaker://browser-ui' or check the application menu: Help > About Beaker. The version number is displayed there.
    Affected if The displayed version is earlier than 0.8.9 (for example, 0.8.8, 0.8.7, etc.)
  2. Cross-reference version using system package manager
    On Windows, check Add or Remove Programs or the installed programs list. On macOS, run 'ls /Applications' to list installed applications and note the Beaker version from the application bundle info. On Linux, check your package manager (dpkg, rpm, or the relevant package list) for the installed beaker package version.
    Affected if The installed package version returned by the system is earlier than 0.8.9
  3. Verify context isolation configuration (optional confirmation)
    If you have access to the Beaker application files, examine the Electron main process configuration (typically in the packaged resources or the source code if available) for the BrowserWindow webPreferences. Look for the 'contextIsolation' flag.
    Affected if The contextIsolation flag is set to false or is absent in the webPreferences configuration, indicating the vulnerability is exploitable in that environment

You are affected if the installed Beaker browser version is earlier than 0.8.9, since versions prior to 0.8.9 lack Electron context isolation and are therefore vulnerable to the prototype-pollution sandbox escape described in this CVE.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 0.8.9 or later
Fixed in 0.8.9
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Beaker 0.8.9 or later which implements context isolation, and audit the codebase for additional prototype-pollution vulnerabilities in the Electron IPC communication layer.

Recommended fix High confidence

0.8.9

  1. Check current Beaker version (typically in Help > About or beaker://status)
  2. Download Beaker version 0.8.9 or later from the official GitHub releases page (github.com/beakerbrowser/beaker/releases)
  3. Close any running instances of the Beaker browser
  4. Install the updated Beaker version 0.8.9 or later
  5. Restart Beaker to apply the security update
Caveat Review Beaker release notes for any breaking changes if upgrading across multiple versions

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Beaker Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
52.0 hours of engineering $9,160
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-12079 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data