CVE-2025-55130
Published: 20 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-55130 is a critical-severity Authentication Bypass by Alternate Name (CWE-289) vulnerability in Nodejs Node.Js. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 38.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-25 (Reference Monitor) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-55130 is a vulnerability in Node.js's Permissions model that enables attackers to bypass the `--allow-fs-read` and `--allow-fs-write` restrictions through crafted relative symlink paths. By chaining directories and symlinks, a script permitted access only to the current directory can escape its allowed path, read sensitive files elsewhere, and perform arbitrary file read/write operations. This flaw undermines the isolation guarantees of the permission model and can lead to system compromise. It affects users of the permission model in Node.js versions v20, v22, v24, and v25, with a CVSS score of 9.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) and is associated with CWE-289.
The vulnerability can be exploited by any unauthenticated attacker (PR:N) over the network (AV:N) with low complexity (AC:L), provided they can execute a malicious Node.js script in an environment using the permission model. Exploitation grants high-impact confidentiality (C:H) and integrity (I:H) violations through arbitrary file read/write capabilities outside the intended scope, though it has no direct availability impact (A:N). Successful attacks break expected sandboxing, potentially allowing access to sensitive system files and full compromise of the host.
For mitigation details, refer to the Node.js security advisory at https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/december-2025-security-releases, which covers patches and remediation steps for affected versions.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-3338
Vulnerability details
A flaw in Node.js’s Permissions model allows attackers to bypass `--allow-fs-read` and `--allow-fs-write` restrictions using crafted relative symlink paths. By chaining directories and symlinks, a script granted access only to the current directory can escape the allowed path and read…
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sensitive files. This breaks the expected isolation guarantees and enables arbitrary file read/write, leading to potential system compromise. This vulnerability affects users of the permission model on Node.js v20, v22, v24, and v25.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Bypass of Node.js FS permission sandbox directly enables remote exploitation of exposed apps (T1190) and arbitrary local file/directory access (T1005/T1083).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires identification, reporting, and correction of the specific flaw in Node.js permission model, enabling patching to prevent symlink-based bypass of FS restrictions.
Mandates a reference monitor mechanism to correctly enforce access control policies, directly mitigating the permission model's failure to block crafted relative symlink paths.
Enforces approved authorizations for logical access to file system resources, preventing escape from sandboxed directories via symlink traversal.