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Mallory
CriticalPublic exploit

Sandbox escape in vm2 exception sanitization

IdentifiersCVE-2023-29199CWE-265

CVE-2023-29199 is a critical sandbox escape vulnerability in the vm2 JavaScript/Node.js sandbox library affecting versions up to and including 3.9.15. The flaw exists in vm2's source code transformer, specifically its exception sanitization logic. An attacker can bypass the handleException() protection and cause unsanitized host exceptions to be exposed inside the sandboxed context. Because these exceptions originate from the host rather than the sandbox, they can be leveraged to break vm2's isolation boundary and execute arbitrary code in the host context.

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For your environment

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows a threat actor to escape the vm2 sandbox and achieve arbitrary code execution on the host system running the sandbox. This completely undermines the security boundary vm2 is intended to provide for untrusted JavaScript execution, potentially leading to full compromise of the hosting application or server.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, avoid executing untrusted code with affected vm2 versions. Reduce exposure by isolating sandboxed workloads from sensitive host resources, running them in separate containers or stronger isolation boundaries, and limiting privileges of the host process. Defense-in-depth measures are advisable because vm2 has had multiple sandbox escape issues.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade vm2 to version 3.9.16 or later. The vulnerability was patched in vm2 3.9.16. Where possible, update to the most recent maintained release to pick up subsequent sandbox escape fixes as well.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
Vm2 ProjectVm2application

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.