CVE-2017-1000048 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in qs. A fix is available for qs — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Prototype Pollution Protection Bypass in qs
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
qsnpmDescription
Affected version of qs are vulnerable to Prototype Pollution because it is possible to bypass the protection. The qs.parse function fails to properly prevent an object's prototype to be altered when parsing arbitrary input. Input containing [ or ] may bypass the prototype pollution protection and alter the Object prototype. This allows attackers to override properties that will exist in all objects, which may lead to Denial of Service or Remote Code Execution in specific circumstances.
Recommendation
Upgrade to 6.0.4, 6.1.2, 6.2.3, 6.3.2 or later.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | qs | all versions | 6.0.4npm install qs@6.0.4 |
| 📦npm | qs | ≥ 6.1.0&&< 6.1.2 | 6.1.2npm install qs@6.1.2 |
| 📦npm | qs | ≥ 6.2.0&&< 6.2.3 | 6.2.3npm install qs@6.2.3 |
| 📦npm | qs | ≥ 6.3.0&&< 6.3.2 | 6.3.2npm install qs@6.3.2 |
Affected Products
qsqs_projectDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for qs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update qs to 6.0.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-1000048 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Red Hat Quay include nodejs-qs as a build time dependency. Nodejs-qs is used by protractor for testing as build time, and is not included as runtime.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | rh-nodejs6-nodejs-qs-0:6.2.3-1.el6 | RHSA-2017:2672 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2017-1000048 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.