Public vulnerability disclosure

CVE-2026-121745

nvm exposes NVM_AUTH_HEADER to other local users on the curl/wget command line

publishedCWE-214

Node Version Manager (nvm) is a POSIX-compliant shell function for managing multiple node.js versions. In versions 0.40.0 through 0.40.8, when `NVM_AUTH_HEADER` is set, `nvm_download` passes the credential to curl or wget as a `--header "Authorization: ..."` command-line argument. Process arguments are visible to every local user (on Linux via `ps` or `/proc//cmdline` unless `/proc` is mounted with `hidepid=`; on macOS via `ps`), so another unprivileged account on the same machine can read the token while nvm is downloading during `nvm ls-remote`, `nvm install`, and similar commands, and gain whatever access it grants on the private mirror. Only users who set `NVM_AUTH_HEADER` on a host shared with other local accounts are affected. Version 0.41.0 passes the header to curl on stdin and to GNU Wget in a private temporary config file. BusyBox wget reads no config file, so when it is the only downloader available the header is still passed as an argument.

Technical severity2.0 lowCVSS 4.0 · CNA: harborist
Published2026-11-04Source updated 2026-11-04
Collected2026-11-041 attributed source

Fixes and workarounds

Fix

Upgrade to nvm 0.41.0 or later, and on a machine shared with other local users make sure curl or GNU Wget is installed (BusyBox wget still receives the header as an argument).

Source: CNA: harborist

Workaround

Until upgrading, do not set `NVM_AUTH_HEADER` on machines shared with other local users, or mount `/proc` with `hidepid=2` on Linux.

Source: CNA: harborist

Fix

The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches.

Source: CNA: harborist

Affected products and versions

Affected products, source version ranges and reporting authorities
ProductVersionsAuthority
nvm
nvm-sh
≥ 0.40.0; < 0.41.0 (affected, semver)
Other versions: unaffected
CNA: harborist

Version ranges are source assertions. Check the vendor advisory and your installed configuration before determining exposure.

CVSS assessments

CVSS scores, vectors and reporting authorities
Version / scoreVectorAuthority
4.0 / 2.0
low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:NCNA: harborist
3.1 / 2.5
low
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:NCNA: harborist

Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

References

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