Skip to content
Fencer Intel
medium 4.8

CVE-2026-42890 json

actual Allows Electron to Run As Node

published 5mo ago modified 14d ago also EUVD-2026-36547 , GHSA-7rvm-xjpp-63r9

cvss
4.8
version 4.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 2%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Actual is an open-source personal finance application. In the macOS desktop application version 25.x (built on Electron 39.2.7), the ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE fuse is not disabled, allowing an attacker who can place a file on disk or control command-line arguments to invoke the signed Actual.app binary with the ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1 environment variable set. This converts the application into a Node.js REPL capable of executing arbitrary code that inherits the application's entitlements and code signature, bypassing macOS Gatekeeper review. Version 26.5.0 patches the issue.

Patch / fix

  • npm actual 26.5.0
  • actualbudget actual 26.5.0

Is CVE-2026-42890 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
4mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 2% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 4.0 4.8 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CNA 4.0 4.8 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm actual
<26.5.0
26.5.0

Affected products

  • actualbudget actual

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code
  • CWE-250 Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
  • CWE-693 Protection Mechanism Failure

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.