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pnpm: Environment secrets exfiltrated via env-placeholder expansion in proxy settings read from an untrusted pnpm-workspace.yaml

Type: advisorySource: OSV1 source record

## Summary pnpm expands `${VAR}` environment placeholders in the `httpProxy` / `httpsProxy` / `noProxy` settings read from a project's `pnpm-workspace.yaml`. Because a project manifest is repository-controlled, a malicious repository that a victim merely clones and runs `pnpm install` in can route all install traffic through an attacker proxy whose hostname or userinfo embeds — and thereby exfiltrates — an environment secret such as `NPM_TOKEN` or `GITHUB_TOKEN`. This bypasses a trust boundary pnpm deliberately enforces: env-placeholder expansion of request-destination settings is already suppressed for `registry`, `pnprServer`, `registries` and `namedRegistries` when they come from an untrusted project manifest, and the sibling `.npmrc` reader already classifies the proxy keys as request destinations. The manifest-side guard set simply omitted them. ## Impact An attacker who controls only the contents of a repository's `pnpm-workspace.yaml` — a public repo, a fork, or a supply-chain pull request — can read many values out of the victim's process environment and have them delivered to an attacker-controlled host. No pre-existing access to the victim's store, global config, lockfile, `node_modules`, or environment is required. The secret is exfiltrated during config loading, before any lifecycle script runs. This turns "I can author a project manifest" into "I read the victim's environment secrets." ## Affected versions Introduced in pnpm 10.7.0, which added environment-variab

Announced Group revision 1
Original source ↗

GHSA-vx52-2968-3vc6

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: osv:GHSA-vx52-2968-3vc6

pnpm

Source reference: /affected/0/package/name

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
11.11.0

Source reference: /affected/0/ranges

Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

pnpm

Source reference: /affected/1/package/name

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
10.34.5

Source reference: /affected/1/ranges

Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "ranges": [
      {
        "type": "SEMVER",
        "events": [
          {
            "introduced": "11.0.0"
          },
          {
            "fixed": "11.11.0"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "package": {
      "name": "pnpm",
      "purl": "pkg:npm/pnpm",
      "ecosystem": "npm"
    },
    "database_specific": {
      "source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/09/GHSA-vx52-2968-3vc6/GHSA-vx52-2968-3vc6.json"
    }
  },
  {
    "ranges": [
      {
        "type": "SEMVER",
        "events": [
          {
            "introduced": "10.7.0"
          },
          {
            "fixed": "10.34.5"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "package": {
      "name": "pnpm",
      "purl": "pkg:npm/pnpm",
      "ecosystem": "npm"
    },
    "database_specific": {
      "source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/09/GHSA-vx52-2968-3vc6/GHSA-vx52-2968-3vc6.json"
    }
  }
]
Related CVEs
CVE-2026-101043

Source reference: /aliases

Publisher severity

high

Source reference: /database_specific/severity

Linked CVE context

These ratings describe the referenced vulnerabilities and products. They are not a severity rating for every application using this dependency.

Event
#21148 · Revision 1
Added to Heist Feed
Publisher date
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