Vulnerability · Published Nov 13, 2021 · Assigned by mitre
CVE-2021-43616
Critical 9.0
In plain English
A critical-severity security flaw in the nodejs package (AlmaLinux). There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 2.7% (higher than 86% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
The npm ci command in npm 7.x and 8.x through 8.1.3 proceeds with an installation even if dependency information in package-lock.json differs from package.json. This behavior is inconsistent with the documentation, and makes it easier for attackers to install malware that was supposed to have been blocked by an exact version match requirement in package-lock.json. NOTE: The npm team believes this is not a vulnerability. It would require someone to socially engineer package.json which has different dependencies than package-lock.json. That user would have to have file system or write access to change dependencies. The npm team states preventing malicious actors from socially engineering or gaining file system access is outside the scope of the npm CLI.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs | 1:16.14.0-4.module_el8.6.0+2904+f21ad6f4 | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs-devel | 1:16.14.0-4.module_el8.6.0+2904+f21ad6f4 | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs-docs | 1:16.14.0-4.module_el8.6.0+2904+f21ad6f4 | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs-full-i18n | 1:16.14.0-4.module_el8.6.0+2904+f21ad6f4 | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs-nodemon | 2.0.15-1.module_el8.6.0+2904+f21ad6f4 | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs-nodemon | 2.0.15-1.module_el8.5.0+2605+45d748af | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs-packaging | 25-1.module_el8.5.0+246+05401605 | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | nodejs-packaging | 25-1.module_el8.5.0+2605+45d748af | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | npm | 1:8.3.1-1.16.14.0.4.module_el8.6.0+2904+f21ad6f4 | ALSA-2022:4796 |
| Alpine:v3.20 | npm | 8.1.4-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Alpine:v3.21 | npm | 8.1.4-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Alpine:v3.22 | npm | 8.1.4-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Alpine:v3.23 | npm | 8.1.4-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Alpine:v3.24 | npm | 8.1.4-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Debian:12 | npm | 8.4.1~ds-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Debian:13 | npm | 8.4.1~ds-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Debian:14 | npm | 8.4.1~ds-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Rocky Linux:8 | nodejs | 1:16.14.0-4.module+el8.6.0+978+59f26232 | RLSA-2022:4796 |
| Rocky Linux:8 | nodejs-nodemon | 0:2.0.15-1.module+el8.5.0+721+4c107270 | RLSA-2022:4796 |
| Rocky Linux:8 | nodejs-packaging | 0:25-1.module+el8.5.0+702+221f14e6 | RLSA-2022:4796 |
| Rocky Linux:8 | nodejs-packaging | 0:25-1.module+el8.6.0+1046+80feca58 | RLSA-2022:4796 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | npm | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | npm | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | npm | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | npm | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-43616 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | npm | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2021-43616 |
Affected products (as reported)
References
- https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2701
- https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/commands/npm-ci
- https://github.com/icatalina/CVE-2021-43616
- https://medium.com/cider-sec/this-time-we-were-lucky-85c0dcac94a0
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20211210-0002/
- https://github.com/npm/cli/commit/457e0ae61bbc55846f5af44afa4066921923490f
- FEDORA-2022-97b214b298 vendor-advisory
- https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v8/commands/npm-ci
- https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2701#issuecomment-979054224
- https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2701#issuecomment-972900511