In Eclipse Theia since version 1.26.0, the backend /services/request-service RPC accepts an attacker-controlled URL from any client connected to the standard /services messaging endpoint, performs the HTTP request server-side, and returns the full response body to the caller. Because the destination URL is neither validated nor allowlisted, a remote attacker with access to the Theia service connection can issue server-side HTTP requests to localhost or other backend-reachable hosts and read their responses, exposing internal administrative endpoints, cloud instance metadata services, and other resources that are intentionally outside the browser network boundary. The vulnerability affects deployments where the Theia service connection is reachable by untrusted users (for example, multi-tenant or publicly-reachable Theia deployments).

In affected versions of Eclipse Theia (1.8.1 and later), the browser backend exposes privileged terminal RPC over WebSocket (/services/shell-terminal, /services/terminals/:id) without service-level authentication. WebSocket origin validation in @theia/core is fail-open: connections are accepted when the Origin header is missing or when no THEIA_HOSTS allowlist is configured (the default). The Socket.IO integration additionally replaces the real Origin header with a client-supplied fix-origin header that an attacker can control or omit. As a result, a foreign-origin web page visited by a user with a running Theia instance can open the /services WebSocket namespace, invoke terminal creation, attach to the resulting terminal data channel, execute arbitrary OS commands, and read their output. This affects both local developer setups (drive-by attack) and hosted or tunneled deployments without strong external authentication. A fix is in development that enforces same-origin validation by default, removes trust in the fix-origin header, gates HTTP and WebSocket access on a SameSite=Strict; HttpOnly connection-token cookie, and sanitizes shell terminal creation options.

In Eclipse Theia versions prior to 1.69.0, custom task definitions in workspace files (e.g. .theia/tasks.json, .vscode/tasks.json) could be executed without requiring workspace trust. An attacker could craft a malicious repository that, when cloned and opened in Theia, leads to execution of arbitrary commands with the user's privileges. In combination with AI chat features and a workspace .theia/settings.json that disabled tool confirmation, this could be triggered automatically by sending a message in the AI chat.

In Eclipse Theia versions prior to 1.71.0, the AI chat rendered Markdown image tags from AI responses, triggering HTTP requests to arbitrary external URLs without restriction. Combined with prompt injection in a malicious workspace, an attacker could induce the AI agent to construct image URLs encoding sensitive information from the workspace or conversation context, exfiltrating it to attacker-controlled servers. The workspace trust enforcement introduced in v1.71.0 mitigates the documented attack chain by disabling AI features in untrusted workspaces.

In Eclipse Theia versions prior to 1.71.0, files matching the pattern .prompts/*.prompttemplate in a workspace were automatically loaded and could override or extend the AI agent's system prompts. An attacker could craft a malicious repository containing prompt template files that, when the workspace was opened in Theia, replaced the AI's system instructions with attacker-controlled content (indirect prompt injection). Combined with other AI chat features available in untrusted workspaces, this enabled attack chains leading to data exfiltration via Markdown image rendering or arbitrary command execution via task definitions.

In Eclipse Theia versions prior to 1.71.0, the AI chat agent processed workspace file and directory names as part of its prompt context without distinguishing them from system instructions. An attacker could craft a malicious repository with adversarial directory or file names that, when analyzed by the AI agent, would cause the agent to follow attacker-controlled instructions (indirect prompt injection). Combined with other AI chat features available in untrusted workspaces, this enabled attack chains leading to data exfiltration via Markdown image rendering or arbitrary command execution via task definitions.

In Eclipse Theia 0.1.1 to 0.2.0, it is possible to exploit the default build to obtain remote code execution (and XXE) via the theia-xml-extension. This extension uses lsp4xml (recently renamed to LemMinX) in order to provide language support for XML. This is installed by default.

In Eclipse Theia 0.3.9 to 1.8.1, the "mini-browser" extension allows a user to preview HTML files in an iframe inside the IDE. But with the way it is made it is possible for a previewed HTML file to trigger an RCE. This exploit only happens if a user previews a malicious file..

In Eclipse Theia versions up to and including 0.16.0, in the notification messages there is no HTML escaping, so Javascript code can run.

In Eclipse Theia versions up to and including 1.8.0, in the debug console there is no HTML escaping, so arbitrary Javascript code can be injected.

In Eclipse Theia versions up to and including 1.2.0, the Markdown Preview (@theia/preview), can be exploited to execute arbitrary code.

In Eclipse Theia versions 0.3.9 through 0.15.0, one of the default pre-packaged Theia extensions is "Mini-Browser", published as "@theia/mini-browser" on npmjs.com. This extension, for its own needs, exposes a HTTP endpoint that allows to read the content of files on the host's filesystem, given their path, without restrictions on the requester's origin. This design is vulnerable to being exploited remotely through a DNS rebinding attack or a drive-by download of a carefully crafted exploit.