CVE-2026-123829

Description

A Permission Model bypass in Node.js recursive file watching discloses the names of files and directories the process is not permitted to read. On macOS and Windows, fs.watch() and fs.promises.watch() in recursive mode are backed by the native libuv watcher: FSEventWrap::Start checks kFileSystemRead only once, on the watched root, and FSEventWrap::OnEvent then forwards every filename libuv reports (relative paths at any depth) to the JavaScript callback without checking that each path is covered by the read grant. Code running under --permission with an exact read grant on a directory can therefore learn names such as sub/secret.txt even though readdir on that subdirectory is denied. The flaw exposes names and timing metadata, not file contents, and requires macOS or Windows plus files created under the watched directory by another actor. This vulnerability affects Node.js 26.x, 24.x, and 22.x.

• How can I get the fixes?
• What do statuses mean?

Severity score breakdown

CVSS version: CVSS v3.0

References

• MITRE
• NVD
• Launchpad
• Debian

Other references

• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-123829
• https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/november-2026-security-releases#permission-model-bypass-in-recursive-fswatch-leaks-names-of-denied-descendants-cve-2026-123829---low
• https://cna.openjsf.org/security-advisories.html
• https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/november-2026-security-releases