vm2 before 3.11.7 contains an incorrect authorization vulnerability in the external package allowlist check that uses non-exact substring matching instead of full package-name boundary validation. Attackers can bypass the allowlist by requiring a colliding package name that contains an allowlisted package substring, causing vm2 to load and execute unauthorized host packages in the host context.

Affected: npm: vm2

### Summary

vm2 is a sandbox library for isolating and executing untrusted JavaScript code inside a Node.js process. It can restrict access to built-in modules and external packages.

When `NodeVM` enables an `external` allowlist together with a custom `resolve` callback, vm2 checks the requested package name with a non-exact match. For example, if the allowlist only permits `left-pad`, an attacker can still bypass the check with a colliding package name such as `evil-left-pad`, because it contains the allowlisted name.

If the colliding package already exists in a host path resolvable by the custom resolver, or if the target application's custom resolver / dependency-management workflow downloads the package and places it in a resolvable path, vm2 loads and executes that package in the host context. This lets sandboxed code bypass the module allowlist and may further lead to host code execution.

### Details

`NodeVM` supports `require.external` to configure which external npm packages sandboxed code may load. It also supports a custom resolver through `require.resolve`. This combination is commonly used in business plugin systems, user-script platforms, or sandbox execution environments: the application allows only a small set of trusted dependencies while using a custom resolver that points to the application's own package directory.

The vulnerability is in the allowlist pre-check logic before the custom resolver is called. vm2 generates a regular expression from the `e…

Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in vm2 ausnutzen, um Sicherheitsvorkehrungen zu umgehen, um Informationen offenzulegen, um Daten zu manipulieren, um einen Denial of Service Angriff durchzuführen und um beliebigen Programmcode auszuführen.