Executive brief
JetBrains WebStorm, a popular development environment for JavaScript, contained a security flaw that allowed malicious code to run automatically when a project was opened. Typically, the software asks for user permission before trusting a new project, but this vulnerability bypassed that safeguard by using the configured Node.js interpreter. An attacker could use this to gain full control over a developer's workstation simply by convincing them to open a malicious project folder.
Technical details
A vulnerability in JetBrains WebStorm versions prior to 2026.2 allowed for arbitrary code execution by exploiting the Node.js interpreter configuration. The flaw stems from the inclusion of functionality from an untrusted control sphere (CWE-829), where the IDE would execute code via the configured Node.js interpreter before the user had explicitly granted 'Project Trust'. An attacker could exploit this by providing a malicious project that triggers execution upon being opened in the IDE. This bypasses the security sandbox intended to protect users from untrusted code. The issue is resolved in version 2026.2.
Affected products
- JetBrains WebStorm before 2026.2
Timeline
- 2026-07-23: advisory: CVE-2026-64806 published by JetBrains
- 2026-07-23: patched: Fixed in WebStorm version 2026.2