RCE in Actualbudget Actual

CVE-2026-42890

Actual is an open-source personal finance application. In the macOS desktop application version 25.x (built on Electron 39.2.7), the ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE fuse is not disabled, allowing an attacker who can place a file on disk or control command-line arguments to invoke the signed Actual.app binary with the ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1 environment variable set. This converts the application into a Node.js REPL capable of executing arbitrary code that inherits the application's entitlements and code signature, bypassing macOS Gatekeeper review. Version 26.5.0 patches the issue.

Vulnerability class: RCE (Remote Code Execution)

Published · last modified .

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (2.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 2nd percentile — 2.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-42890: held from 0.002 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.001 · change: -0.001

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References