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Incorrect Permission AssignmentWeakness · CWE-732

CVE-2026-0775

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
npm cli Incorrect Permission Assignment Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of npm cli. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the handling of modules. The application loads modules from an unsecured location. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of a target user. Was ZDI-CAN-25430.

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 · moderate confidence

This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in npm cli where the application loads modules from an unsecured location. An attacker with low-privileged code execution can exploit improper permission assignment in the module handling logic to load malicious modules and escalate to arbitrary code execution in the context of the target user.

MitigationRemediate by ensuring npm only loads modules from secured, trusted locations with proper permission controls, and apply any available vendor patches for npm cli that address the insecure module loading path.

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

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
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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. Identify npm version
    Run 'npm --version' to get the installed npm CLI version. Compare against any known affected versions for CVE-2026-0775.
    Affected if The version falls within an affected range if documented by the vendor.
  2. Determine npm module load paths
    Run 'npm config list' and 'npm root -g' to identify where npm loads modules from, including global and user-specific module directories.
    Affected if Modules are loaded from directories with weak or overly permissive access controls.
  3. Inspect directory permissions on npm module paths
    Run 'ls -la' on the directories returned by 'npm root -g' and 'npm config get prefix' to check if any are world-writable or group-writable.
    Affected if Any npm module directory is world-writable or group-writable, allowing a low-privileged attacker to place malicious modules.
  4. Check for insecure temporary or cache directories
    Run 'npm config get cache' and inspect the permissions on the cache directory. Also check for any custom module paths configured via NODE_PATH environment variable.
    Affected if Cache or temporary directories used by npm are world-writable or NODE_PATH includes unsecured directories.
  5. Review npm configuration for module loading settings
    Run 'npm config list --json' and examine settings such as 'unsafe-perm', 'ignore-scripts', or any custom 'module' or 'node-path' configurations that may allow loading from untrusted locations.
    Affected if Configuration permits loading modules from directories outside the expected secure module trees.

A user is affected if npm loads modules from any directory with weak permissions (world-writable/group-writable) or from custom paths that are not properly secured, allowing a low-privileged attacker to inject malicious modules.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Remediate by ensuring npm only loads modules from secured, trusted locations with proper permission controls, and apply any available vendor patches for npm cli that address the insecure module loading path.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2026-0775 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
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