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CVE-2026-102672 is a local race condition vulnerability affecting Electron applications on macOS. On macOS, Electron bundles the Squirrel.Mac auto-update framework, whose privileged ShipIt helper performs the final step of an update as root. A local attacker could cause that helper to overwrite a different application’s files, as root, instead of the app that started the update. Exploitation requires local access to the machine. Apps are only affected on macOS if they ship Squirrel.Mac-based auto-updates. Apps on other platforms, or that do not use Squirrel.Mac auto-updates, are not affected. The vulnerability is classified as CWE-362, a race condition where a code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently. This can impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The exploitability is told to be easy, and local access is required to approach this attack. There are no app-side workarounds; you must update to a patched version of Electron. The fixed versions are 42.0.0-beta.2, 41.10.5, and 39.8.10.
DailyCVE Form:
Platform: macOS
Version: < 39.8.10
Vulnerability: Squirrel.Mac race condition
Severity: Moderate
date: Aug 29, 2026
Prediction: Patch date expected around 2026-09-29
What Undercode Say
Check your current Electron version npm list electron Check for known vulnerabilities in your project npm audit Check the patched version requirements Fixed versions: 39.8.10, 41.10.5, 42.0.0-beta.2
// package.json - ensure you are not using an affected version range
{
"devDependencies": {
"electron": "^41.10.5"
}
}
Update Electron to a patched version npm install [email protected] --save-dev or npm install [email protected] --save-dev or npm install [email protected] --save-dev
How Exploit: (Educational Purposes!)
The race condition exists in the Squirrel.Mac update installation process. A local attacker with access to the machine can trigger the privileged ShipIt helper to overwrite files of a different application, as root, instead of the intended target application. The attacker needs to win a timing window during the update installation where the target bundle path can be resolved to different locations at different stages of the install. The vulnerable code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but another concurrent code sequence can modify the shared resource within the timing window. The result is that the ShipIt helper, running with root privileges, writes to an unintended application’s bundle.
Protection: from this CVE
Update Electron to a patched version immediately. The fixed versions are 39.8.10, 41.10.5, and 42.0.0-beta.2. There are no app-side workarounds available. If your application ships Squirrel.Mac-based auto-updates on macOS, you must upgrade Electron to eliminate this vulnerability. Verify your dependency tree with `npm audit` and ensure your package.json specifies a patched version.
Impact
Successful exploitation allows a local attacker to cause the privileged ShipIt helper to overwrite a different application’s files with root privileges. This impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The attacker can modify files belonging to other applications on the system, potentially leading to further compromise or data corruption.
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Sources:
Reported By: github.com
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