Skip to content

IPC messages delivered to the wrong frame in Electron

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jan 26, 2021 in electron/electron • Updated May 27, 2025

Package

npm electron (npm)

Affected versions

< 9.4.0
>= 10.0.0, < 10.2.0
>= 11.0.0, < 11.1.0

Patched versions

9.4.0
10.2.0
11.1.0

Description

Impact

IPC messages sent from the main process to a subframe in the renderer process, through webContents.sendToFrame, event.reply or when using the remote module, can in some cases be delivered to the wrong frame.

If your app does ANY of the following, then it is impacted by this issue:

  • Uses remote
  • Calls webContents.sendToFrame
  • Calls event.reply in an IPC message handler

Patches

This has been fixed in the following versions:

  • 9.4.0
  • 10.2.0
  • 11.1.0
  • 12.0.0-beta.9

Workarounds

There are no workarounds for this issue.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [email protected].

References

@MarshallOfSound MarshallOfSound published to electron/electron Jan 26, 2021
Reviewed Jan 28, 2021
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jan 28, 2021
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jan 28, 2021
Last updated May 27, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(76th percentile)

Weaknesses

Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere

The product exposes a resource to the wrong control sphere, providing unintended actors with inappropriate access to the resource. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2020-26272

GHSA ID

GHSA-hvf8-h2qh-37m9

Source code

No known source code

Credits

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.