GHSA-j6ch-mq5c-3h4x: nvm prints the contents of any readable file through a symlinked .nvmrc

Published Nov 4, 2026
·
Updated

Node Version Manager (nvm) is a POSIX-compliant shell function for managing multiple node.js versions. In versions 0.2.0 through 0.40.8, nvm does not check whether .nvmrc is a symbolic link. A repository or archive that ships .nvmrc as a symlink to another file (for example ../../.npmrc, or /proc/self/environ on Linux) makes a plain nvm use, nvm install, nvm which, nvm exec, nvm run, or nvm-exec read that file and print its contents in the invalid-.nvmrc message (even with --silent) or, for a one-line file, in the Found ... with version <...> message; with the README's zsh load-nvmrc or bash cdnvm hook installed, entering the directory is enough. nvm sends the content nowhere; the attacker learns it only where they can see the victim's output, such as a CI log for a contributed branch. Version 0.41.0 still follows a symlinked .nvmrc, so deliberate links to another version file keep working, but never prints its content, and accepts it only if it contains a version or the name of an existing alias; the README's bash cdnvm hook, which read .nvmrc itself, now gets the version from nvm, so users of that hook must also update their copy of it.

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade nvm to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0.41.0
  2. Configuration

    Update locally copied versions of the README's bash cdnvm hook to obtain the version from nvm instead of reading .nvmrc directly

    nvm README bash cdnvm hook

Event History

Nov 4, 2026
CVE Published
via OSV·09:30 PM
Data Sourced
via OSV·09:30 PM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness

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