Electron: Registry key path injection in app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient on Windows

Impact

On Windows, app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient(protocol) did not validate the protocol name before writing to the registry. Apps that pass untrusted input as the protocol name may allow an attacker to write to arbitrary subkeys under HKCU\Software\Classes\, potentially hijacking existing protocol handlers.

Apps are only affected if they call app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient() with a protocol name derived from external or untrusted input. Apps that use a hardcoded protocol name are not affected.

Workarounds

Validate the protocol name matches /^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9+.-]*$/ before passing it to app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient().

Fixed Versions

• 41.0.0
• 40.8.1
• 39.8.1
• 38.8.6

For more information

If there are any questions or comments about this advisory, please email security@electronjs.org