Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories
CVE-2026-48027: Nx Console Embedded Malicious Code Vulnerability
CVE-2026-48027 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 and affects Nx Nx Console. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available. CISA added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-05-27, which means exploitation in the wild has been observed.
Vulnerability description
Nx Console is the user interface for Nx & Lerna. On 19 May 2026, a malicious version of Nx Console, 18.95.0, was published at 12:30 PM UTC and removed soon after at 12:48 PM UTC, leaving it available for ~18 minutes in Visual Studio Marketplace. For OpenVSX, the problem was detected later, and the compromised version was available from 12:33 UTC to 13:09 UTC (~36 minutes). Version 18.100.0 of Nx Console is not compromised and users may remediate by upgrading to that version.
Severity breakdown
CVSS v3.1 9.8: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
- Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
- Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
- User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
- Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
- Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
- Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.
Underlying weakness
CWE-506: Embedded Malicious Code
The product contains code that appears to be malicious in nature.
Affected products
- NX Console: 18.95.0
References
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx-console/security/advisories/GHSA-c9j4-9m59-847w
- https://nx.dev/blog/nx-console-v18-95-0-postmortem#indicators-of-compromise
- https://www.stepsecurity.io/blog/nx-console-vs-code-extension-compromised
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-48027
- https://github.com/nrwl/nx-console/issues/3139