nvm-sh nvm up to 0.40.7 Alias File Reader nvm_alias path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as problematic has been detected in nvm-sh nvm up to 0.40.7. Affected by this vulnerability is the function nvm_alias of the component Alias File Reader. This manipulation causes path traversal. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-94185. The attack is restricted to local execution. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in nvm-sh nvm up to 0.40.7. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function nvm_alias of the component Alias File Reader. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

nvm resolves a requested version or alias by treating it as a filename under $NVM_DIR/alias. Before 0.40.8, nvm_alias() concatenated the requested name onto that directory and read the result with no containment check, so a name containing a `..` component escaped the alias directory; under the default layout an alias such as `../../.npmrc` resolves to a file in the user's home directory. nvm_print_alias_file() then emits every non-comment, non-empty line of whatever was opened. A version string taken from an untrusted .nvmrc reaches this path, so a developer who runs `nvm use`, `nvm install`, or `nvm which` inside an attacker-supplied repository discloses the first non-comment line of an arbitrary file readable by that user, in the resulting "is not yet installed" error message. A user-supplied `nvm alias <traversing-name>` discloses every non-comment line of the target file. There is no integrity or availability impact, and no command execution on this path.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-94185 since 09/21/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1006 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 0.40.8 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-83825). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• nvm-sh

Name

• nvm

Version

• 0.40.0
• 0.40.1
• 0.40.2
• 0.40.3
• 0.40.4
• 0.40.5
• 0.40.6
• 0.40.7

Website

• Product: https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm/

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Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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