CVE-2026-34770
Published: 04 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-34770 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Electronjs Electron. Its CVSS base score is 7.0 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 2.9th 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 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and RA-5 (Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning).
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI
Directly mitigates the use-after-free vulnerability by requiring timely identification, reporting, and patching of affected Electron versions to eliminate dangling references in the powerMonitor module.
Implements memory protection mechanisms such as ASLR or DEP to mitigate exploitation of the use-after-free leading to memory corruption or crashes from dereferenced OS resources.
Enables vulnerability scanning to identify deployed Electron applications running vulnerable versions prior to 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.0, or 41.0.0-beta.8.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Use-after-free in Electron client app framework leads to memory corruption exploitable for arbitrary code execution in client applications.
NVD Description
Electron is a framework for writing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Prior to versions 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.0, and 41.0.0-beta.8, apps that use the powerMonitor module may be vulnerable to a use-after-free. After the native PowerMonitor object is…
more
garbage-collected, the associated OS-level resources (a message window on Windows, a shutdown handler on macOS) retain dangling references. A subsequent session-change event (Windows) or system shutdown (macOS) dereferences freed memory, which may lead to a crash or memory corruption. All apps that access powerMonitor events (suspend, resume, lock-screen, etc.) are potentially affected. The issue is not directly renderer-controllable. This issue has been patched in versions 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.0, and 41.0.0-beta.8.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2026-34770 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the powerMonitor module of the Electron framework, which enables development of cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It affects Electron versions prior to 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.0, and 41.0.0-beta.8. The flaw occurs after the native PowerMonitor object is garbage-collected, as associated OS-level resources—such as a message window on Windows or a shutdown handler on macOS—retain dangling references. A subsequent session-change event on Windows or system shutdown on macOS can then dereference the freed memory, potentially leading to crashes or memory corruption. All Electron applications that access powerMonitor events, including suspend, resume, and lock-screen, are potentially affected, though the issue is not directly controllable from the renderer process.
With a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.0 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), exploitation requires local access, high attack complexity, no privileges, and user interaction. A local attacker could trigger the vulnerability through these conditions to achieve high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, such as via memory corruption or application crashes.
The Electron security advisory at https://github.com/electron/electron/security/advisories/GHSA-jjp3-mq3x-295m confirms the issue and states that it has been addressed in versions 38.8.6, 39.8.1, 40.8.0, and 41.0.0-beta.8. Practitioners should update affected Electron-based applications to these patched versions or later to mitigate the risk.
Details
- CWE(s)