vm2: timeout Option Bypass via FinalizationRegistry Cleanup Callback (Unbounded Host Event-Loop Block)
### Vulnerability Summary vm2's `VM({ timeout })` option is documented and relied upon as the mechanism that bounds how long sandboxed code may execute. In the current implementation, the timeout only wraps the single synchronous call to `VM#run()` (via `doWithTimeout` → `this._runScript(script)` in `lib/vm.js`). It does not, and structurally cannot, bound code that the V8 engine itself schedules to run *after* that call has already returned. `FinalizationRegistry` and `WeakRef` are exposed to sandboxed code completely unmodified — they are not present anywhere in `lib/setup-sandbox.js`'s list of specially-wrapped/hardened globals (only `WeakMap`, `Promise`, `Proxy`, `Reflect`, etc. receive hardening there). Sandboxed code can register a `FinalizationRegistry` callback against an object it creates and immediately drops. `VM#run()` returns normally, well within the configured timeout, because registration is instant. At some later point — determined entirely by the V8 garbage collector, and forceable on demand by the host process (e.g. under memory pressure, or via `--expose-gc`) — the engine invokes the sandboxed cleanup callback directly. This invocation is **not** mediated by `doWithTimeout`, `Script.runInContext({timeout})`, or any other vm2 accounting mechanism, because it isn't a new call to `VM#run()` at all — it's the GC's own native callback-invocation path. ## Affected Code & Version - **Repository:** `patriksimek/vm2` - **Version tested:** `3.11.6` (commit `a5b31cd9
GHSA-r4fx-v8hh-22mv
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-r4fx-v8hh-22mv
vm2
Source reference: /affected/0/package/name
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- 3.11.7
Source reference:
/affected/0/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": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "3.11.7"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "vm2",
"purl": "pkg:npm/vm2",
"ecosystem": "npm"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/10/GHSA-r4fx-v8hh-22mv/GHSA-r4fx-v8hh-22mv.json",
"last_known_affected_version_range": "<= 3.11.6"
}
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-92942
Source reference:
/aliases
Publisher severity
high
Source reference: /database_specific/severity
- Event
- #85822 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date