CVE-2026-50016
HighCVSS 8.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk23th percentile - higher than 23% of all known CVEs
Summary
pnpm before versions 10.34.0 and 11.4.0 allows a transitive dependency alias from registry package metadata to contain path traversal segments. During install, pnpm uses that alias as a filesystem path when linking dependency nodes, enabling an attacker to replace paths in the current project with symlinks to attacker-controlled directories.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can publish a malicious package to the registry that, during installation (even with --ignore-scripts), replaces existing project files or directories with symlinks, leading to project compromise or data exfiltration.
Recommendation
Upgrade pnpm to version 10.34.0 or 11.4.0 immediately, which fix the path traversal vulnerability via dependency aliases.
Other vulnerabilities in pnpm
See all- CVE-2024-53866Critical
The package manager pnpm prior to version 9.15.0 mishandles overrides and global cache. Overrides from one workspace leak into npm metadata saved in global cache, potentially leading to unauthorized code execution in other workspaces.
- CVE-2026-59196High
In the pnpm package manager prior to versions 10.34.4 and 11.7.0, a crafted lockfile alias could be placed directly under a hoisted node_modules directory. Traversal aliases could escape that directory, while reserved aliases such as .bin or .pnpm could overwrite pnpm-owned layout.
- CVE-2026-59195High
pnpm before versions 10.34.4 and 11.8.0 accepts package names from the configDependencies section of pnpm-lock.yaml and uses them directly when creating config dependency symlinks under node_modules/.pnpm-config. A malicious repository can supply a crafted lock file containing a traversal-shaped config dependency name, leading to symlink creation outside the intended directory.
- CVE-2026-59194High
In pnpm prior to versions 10.34.4 and 11.7.0, a crafted patch entry could resolve outside the configured patches directory, allowing arbitrary file deletion via the pnpm patch-remove command.
- CVE-2026-55700High
The pnpm package manager from version 11.3.0 to 11.5.3 has a vulnerability where the `pnpm stage download` command derived a local filename from registry-controlled package name and version fields. A crafted manifest could escape the selected download directory and overwrite another reachable file.
- CVE-2026-55699Medium
In pnpm prior to versions 10.34.2 and 11.5.3, a vulnerability was discovered where manifest bin object keys such as "", ".", and ".." passed pnpm's bin-name guard. When a malicious package was installed globally, later global remove, update, or add-replacement flows could re-derive those names from the installed manifest and pass path.join(globalBinDir, binName) to removeBin. For "." this targets the global bin directory; for ".." this targets its parent.
- CVE-2026-55698High
pnpm package manager prior to versions 10.34.2 and 11.5.3 persists bootstrap metadata in the first YAML document of pnpm-lock.yaml. A malicious repository can bypass fresh package-manager resolution and cause pnpm to install and execute arbitrary code during automatic version switching.
- CVE-2026-55697High
pnpm prior to versions 10.34.2 and 11.5.3 allows installation of configDependencies declared in pnpm-workspace.yaml before command dispatch. A repository can declare pacquet or @pnpm/pacquet as a config dependency, and pnpm treats this repository-controlled dependency as an install-engine opt-in. During installation, pnpm resolves a platform-specific @pacquet/<platform>-<arch>/pacquet binary from node_modules/.pnpm-config/<packageName> and spawns it as the developer or CI user.
- CVE-2026-55487High
In pnpm prior to versions 10.34.2 and 11.5.3, the generic peer-suffix normalizer incorrectly stripped parenthesized text from git, URL, tarball, file, and other opaque locators. Approval for one source string could authorize a different attacker-controlled source whose locator normalized to the same value.
- CVE-2026-55180Medium
A vulnerability in pnpm package manager prior to versions 10.34.2 and 11.5.3 expands ${ENV_VAR} placeholders from repository-controlled .npmrc and pnpm-workspace.yaml files into registry request destinations and credentials. A malicious repository can send victim environment secrets to an attacker-selected registry before lifecycle scripts run.
Original NVD description (English source)
pnpm is a package manager. Prior to 10.34.0 and 11.4.0, pnpm allows a transitive dependency alias from registry package metadata to contain path traversal segments. During install, pnpm later uses that alias as a filesystem path when linking dependency nodes. As a result, a registry package can cause `pnpm install --ignore-scripts` to replace paths in the current project with symlinks to attacker-controlled dependency package directories. This vulnerability is fixed in 10.34.0 and 11.4.0.

