CVE-2026-121748: Node Version Manager (nvm) is a POSIX-compliant shell function for managing multiple node.js versions. In versions 0.27.…
Node Version Manager (nvm) is a POSIX-compliant shell function for managing multiple node.js versions. In versions 0.27.0 through 0.40.8, when a project's `.npmrc` sets `prefix`, `nvm use` tells the user to run `nvm use --delete-prefix`, which runs `npm config delete prefix` and `npm config delete globalconfig` in the current directory without naming a config file. npm loads the project `.npmrc` before deciding which file to edit, so that file chooses the target: `userconfig=~/.bashrc` makes npm rewrite `~/.bashrc` as ini (corrupting it), and `location=global` with `globalconfig=` leaves the chosen file at mode 0666, which on a shared machine lets another local user write to it. The attacker (the author of a cloned repository or archive, or a local user who can write a shared parent directory) chooses the file but not the bytes written, and no project code runs. Version 0.41.0 no longer lets a project `.npmrc` select which config file `--delete-prefix` edits.
- Published by source
- 2026-11-04
- First seen by Reality Radar
- 2026-11-05
- Last verified
- 2026-11-05
What the official notice says
Risk: CVSS 3.6
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Sources
- NIST National Vulnerability Database Tier A · official published 2026-11-04
Evidence ledger
Every piece of evidence we store is appended to a public hash chain, so later edits are detectable. Anyone can re-verify it.
| Entry | Kind | Observed | Evidence hash | Entry hash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #4007 | new | 2026-11-05 | 9d0b62ef92ca…de2b0f | e380f837b368…0cd3dc |
Chain head: #4215 fb8076e66855…0877cd