Vulnerability · Published Dec 24, 2022 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2022-46175

High 7.1

In plain English

A high-severity prototype pollution in json5 from json5. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 9.7% (higher than 96% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.1High
Exploit odds (30 days)9.7%top 4.5% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack tooling1Public PoC

Official description

JSON5 is an extension to the popular JSON file format that aims to be easier to write and maintain by hand (e.g. for config files). The `parse` method of the JSON5 library before and including versions 1.0.1 and 2.2.1 does not restrict parsing of keys named `__proto__`, allowing specially crafted strings to pollute the prototype of the resulting object. This vulnerability pollutes the prototype of the object returned by `JSON5.parse` and not the global Object prototype, which is the commonly understood definition of Prototype Pollution. However, polluting the prototype of a single object can have significant security impact for an application if the object is later used in trusted operations. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to set arbitrary and unexpected keys on the object returned from `JSON5.parse`. The actual impact will depend on how applications utilize the returned object and how they filter unwanted keys, but could include denial of service, cross-site scripting, elevation of privilege, and in extreme cases, remote code execution. `JSON5.parse` should restrict parsing of `__proto__` keys when parsing JSON strings to objects. As a point of reference, the `JSON.parse` method included in JavaScript ignores `__proto__` keys. Simply changing `JSON5.parse` to `JSON.parse` in the examples above mitigates this vulnerability. This vulnerability is patched in json5 versions 1.0.2, 2.2.2, and later.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12node-json52.2.3+dfsg-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-46175
Debian:13node-json52.2.3+dfsg-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-46175
Debian:14node-json52.2.3+dfsg-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-46175
npmjson52.2.2GHSA-9c47-m6qq-7p4h
npmjson51.0.2GHSA-9c47-m6qq-7p4h

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
json5 json5 < 2.2.2

Weakness: CWE-1321 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H

References