How severe is CVE-2019-10758?

CVE-2019-10758 has a CVSS score of 9.9/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2019-10758?

CVE-2019-10758 affects the following packages: mongo-express (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2019-10758?

Update mongo-express to 0.54.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-10758 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2019-10758 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for mongo-express, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2019-10758 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.

Is CVE-2019-10758 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 7 known exploit references for CVE-2019-10758, including 5 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2019-10758?

CVE-2019-10758 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 84.7%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2019-10758 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2019-10758 (MongoDB mongo-express Remote Code Execution Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2021-12-10. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-06-10. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2019-10758?

CVE-2019-10758 is classified as Code Injection (CWE-94). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2019-10758?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2019-10758, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2019-10758 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2019-10758 was published on December 24, 2019 and was last updated on October 24, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦

📦 npm

CISA KEV · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2019-10758 — mongo-express

CRITICALFix: mongo-express/mongo-express#522

CVE-2019-10758 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) Code Injection vulnerability in mongo-express. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-12-10) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available for mongo-express — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in NPM mongo-express

Also known asGHSA-h47j-hc6x-h3qqSNYK-JS-MONGOEXPRESS-473215

Published

Dec 24, 2019

Updated

Oct 24, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

7 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 22, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-12-10. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-06-10.
A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2019-10758.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

84.7%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs100th percentile — riskier than 100% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2019-10758 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

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.

7other npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream

mongo-expressnpm

883downloads / week

Description

Impact

Remote code execution on the host machine by any authenticated user.

Proof Of Concept

Launching mongo-express on a Mac, pasting the following into the "create index" field will pop open the Mac calculator:

this.constructor.constructor("return process")().mainModule.require('child_process').execSync('/Applications/Calculator.app/Contents/MacOS/Calculator')

Patches

Users should upgrade to version 0.54.0

Workarounds

Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Open an issue in example link to repo
Email us at example email address

Thanks

@JLLeitschuh for finding and reporting this vulnerability

This vulnerability has been exploited in the wild.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`mongo-express`	all versions	0.54.0`npm install mongo-express@0.54.0`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

mongo-expressmongo-express_project

< 0.54.0

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.