High [CVE-2026-53633] @vitest/browser: vite-plus: Vitest: Remote code execution via exposed Chrome DevTools Protocol API
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-53633.
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Summary
Vitest is a testing framework powered by Vite.
From 3.0.0 until 3.2.5, 4.1.8, and 5.0.0-beta.4, Vitest Browser Mode exposed a cdp() API that forwarded raw Chrome DevTools Protocol methods without being gated by allowWrite or allowExec, allowing a remote client with exposed browser API metadata to use CDP Page.setDownloadBehavior and Runtime.evaluate to overwrite vite.config.ts and execute attacker-controlled Node.js code.
This can lead to overwriting configuration files and executing arbitrary Node.js code, resulting in remote code execution. Red Hat has assessed this flaw against its shipping products.
The vulnerability requires Vitest Browser Mode (the @vitest/browser package) to be installed AND explicitly enabled (browser.enabled: true), paired with a CDP-capable browser provider such as Playwright Chromium, an actively running test session, and the Browser Mode API server exposed on a network-reachable interface (--browser.api.host=0.0.0.0).
It does not affect the core `vitest` test runner used without Browser Mode. Only one Red Hat shipping product, Red Hat Trusted Artifact Signer (RHTAS) console UI, lists @vitest/browser as a development dependency, used solely to run its own component test suite.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 days ago·verify at source
- 3.2.5
- 4.1.8
- 5.0.0
- 5.0.0-beta
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- No mitigation is required for Red Hat shipping products, as Vitest Browser Mode and its CDP proxy feature are not enabled or reachable in any Red Hat product's build, test, or runtime configuration. Development teams that do enable Vitest Browser Mode with a CDP-capable provider (Playwright or WebdriverIO) should avoid exposing the Browser Mode API server to untrusted networks (do not set --browser.api.host=0.0.0.0 or equivalent) and should upgrade to @vitest/browser 3.2.5, 4.1.8, 5.0.0-beta.4, or later, and vite-plus 0.1.24 or later.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 days ago·verify at source
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