[Security] [Dependabot] When Vitest UI server is listening, arbitrary file can be read and executed

[care-taker-bot]

🔴 Severity: CRITICAL
Type: Dependabot security advisory
Package / Rule: vitest
Alert: 266

Summary

Summary

Arbitrary file can be read on Windows when Vitest UI server is listening, especially when exposed to the network.

Impact

Only users that match either of the following conditions are affected:

• explicitly exposes the Vitest UI server to the network (using --api.host or api.host config option)
• running the Vitest UI or Browser Mode on Windows

Details

The API handler for /__vitest_attachment__ uses the deprecated isFileServingAllowed incorrectly.
https://github.com/vitest-dev/vitest/blob/eb1abf08573032a532015b999ad3501c5e89e3bb/packages/ui/node/index.ts#L77
The function expects the passed value to use cleanUrl after the check before file system related operation.
Because of this, it is possible to bypass the check by \\?\\..\\. This is not possible on Linux as Linux errors if a directory named ? does not exist.

A similar problem exists in other places as well.

• https://github.com/vitest-dev/vitest/blob/eb1abf08573032a532015b999ad3501c5e89e3bb/packages/vitest/src/api/setup.ts#L103-L105
• https://github.com/vitest-dev/vitest/blob/eb1abf08573032a532015b999ad3501c5e89e3bb/packages/vitest/src/api/setup.ts#L119-L121
• https://github.com/vitest-dev/vitest/blob/eb1abf08573032a532015b999ad3501c5e89e3bb/packages/browser/src/node/commands/fs.ts#L10-L11
• https://github.com/vitest-dev/vitest/blob/eb1abf08573032a532015b999ad3501c5e89e3bb/packages/browser/src/node/plugin.ts#L194-L196
• https://github.com/vitest-dev/vitest/blob/eb1abf08573032a532015b999ad3501c5e89e3bb/packages/browser/src/node/rpc.ts#L115-L121

That said, this isFileServingAllowed check does not actually prevent the API to be abused. Since the API has rerun feature and file write feature, it's possible to run arbitrary script by writing a script as a test file using saveTestFile and running it using rerun. This means exposing the API / Vitest UI is equivalent to giving script execution access.
On the browser mode side, there're readFile / writeFile / saveSnapshotFile. So exposing the browser mode is equivalent to giving file read / write access.

PoC

1. Run Vitest UI
2. Get the API token by curl http://localhost:51204/__vitest__/
3. Run curl "http://localhost:51204/__vitest_attachment__?path=C:\\path\\to\\project\\?\\..\\..\\secret.txt&contentType=text/plain&token=$TOKEN" (TOKEN is the API token)
4. curl shows the content of secret.txt that is outside the project directory

Mitigations

Vitest now ships two configuration flags, allowWrite and allowExec, that gate the privileged operations exploited by this vulnerability. Both are disabled by default whenever the API server is bound to a non-localhost host, ensuring that exposing the server to the network no longer implicitly grants write or execute capabilities to remote clients.

When these flags are disabled, the UI also enters a read-only mode: in-browser code editing and test file execution are turned off, removing the attack surface that allowed remote code execution. Many Browser Mode features are also disabled, like attachments, artifacts or snapshots. See browser.api.

Users who require the full interactive UI on a networked host must explicitly opt in by setting allowWrite and/or allowExec to true.

Remediation

Resolution steps for @copilot:

1. Review the alert at https://github.com/ianlintner/Example-React-AI-Chat-App/security/dependabot/266
2. If this is a dependency vulnerability: bump vitest to a patched
   version; update lockfile.
3. If this is a code-scanning finding: fix the flagged code pattern.
4. If this is a secret exposure: rotate the credential immediately and
   remove it from git history.
5. Open a pull request with the fix and reference this issue.
6. Ensure CI passes before requesting review.

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