Nx: Local privilege escalation via world-accessible daemon and plugin worker sockets
Summary
Nx creates Unix domain sockets for its daemon and plugin workers in shared temporary directories without owner-only permissions. A local, unprivileged account on the same host can connect to these sockets because they perform no authentication. An attacker can then execute code as the account running Nx and read workspace contents, project graphs and task hashes; the risk is limited to shared build servers, CI runners, developer hosts and multi-user containers.
Affected
- nrwl nx from 14.6.0 before 22.7.9
- nrwl nx from 23.0.0 before 23.1.2
Fixed in
- nrwl nx 22.7.9
- nrwl nx 23.1.2
Workaround
- Disabling the Nx daemon does not remove the vulnerable plugin worker sockets.
- No other workaround is documented; upgrading is the fix.
Exploitation
- CISA SSVC: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact total.
- Not listed as known exploited; no public proof of concept found.
- EPSS 0.00141.
Our recommendation
- Upgrade Nx to 22.7.9 (22.x line) or 23.1.2 using nx migrate 23.1.2.
- After upgrading on shared machines, run nx reset to remove sockets and directories left by the vulnerable version.
- Check whether Nx is installed on shared build servers, CI runners or multi-user hosts, including transitive dependencies.
- If an upgrade is not possible at once, do not run Nx on shared hosts or CI runners.
- Single-user workstations without other local accounts are not exposed.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-w3vv-58gj-gw77 github.com
- GitHub Advisory Database entry github.com
- Nx release 22.7.9 github.com
- Nx release 23.1.2 github.com
- Fix commit 3298fd8 github.com
- GitLab advisory CVE-2026-104854 advisories.gitlab.com
- OSV CVE-2026-104854 osv.dev
- Tenable CVE-2026-104854 www.tenable.com
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 1 Nov 2026, 11:32.
Original description (NVD)
Nx is a monorepo solution for TypeScript and polyglot codebases. From 14.6.0 until 22.7.9 and 23.1.2, Nx creates Unix domain sockets for its daemon and isolated plugin workers in shared temporary locations without owner-only directory and socket permissions. Another unprivileged local account on a shared build server, developer host, or multi-user container can discover and connect to a running socket because the transport performs no authentication and relies on filesystem containment. The daemon's PROCESS_IN_BACKGROUND request accepts a module path and invokes its default export, allowing a caller that controls a file to execute code as the account running Nx; other handlers can expose workspace file contents, project graphs, and task hashes. Disabling the daemon alone does not remove the vulnerable plugin-worker sockets, while single-user machines without another local account are not exposed. This issue is fixed in versions 22.7.9 and 23.1.2.
NVD references (7)
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx/commit/3298fd8b2dd066167eb3cc0410643994a59b0bba
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx/commit/63e1abb287a3d69f8ba981828a1de325d0d3dc68
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx/commit/71c2253b6aac23b008e192c4e2642c42a5e07545
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx/pull/36370
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx/releases/tag/22.7.9
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx/releases/tag/23.1.2
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx/security/advisories/GHSA-w3vv-58gj-gw77
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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