Obsidian Desktop before 1.14.0 contains a remote code execution vulnerability that allows attackers to craft malicious Markdown notes exploiting insufficient sanitization of the data-background-iframe attribute, which bypasses DOMPurify and is processed by the bundled Reveal.js 4.3.1 within the Slides core plugin, allowing a javascript: URL to execute in the resulting background iframe. Because Node integration is enabled and context isolation is disabled in Obsidian's vault renderer, the injected script can call parent.require() to access Node APIs such as fs and child_process, enabling arbitrary operating system command execution when the victim opens the note and manually starts the presentation.
Attack Parameters
Attack Vector
Local
Requires local access
Attack Complexity
Low
Easy to exploit
Attack Requirements
None
No additional conditions
Privileges Required
None
No privileges needed
User Interaction
Passive
Minimal interaction
Impact Assessment
Confidentiality
High
Complete data leak
Integrity
High
Complete data modification
Availability
High
Complete denial of service
CVSS Vector v4.0