Hugo is a static site generator. From v0.161.0, Hugo executes Node tools under Node's permission model, but TailwindCSS — included in the default security.exec.allow list — requires a highly permissive configuration (--allow-addons, --allow-child-process, --allow-worker). As a result, the restrictions intended by the fix for GHSA-x597-9fr4-5857 could still be bypassed, allowing a Node tool invoked during a build to read and write files outside the project's working directory.
Affected versions are those after v0.43; the issue was fixed in v0.165.0 by removing tailwindcss from the default security.exec.allow list. Users who do not use TailwindCSS, or who only build trusted sites, are not affected. As a workaround, users can define a restrictive security.exec.allow list in hugo.toml.
Attack Parameters
Impact Assessment
CVSS Vector v4.0