CVE-2020-1912 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in hermes-engine. A fix is available for hermes-engine — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Out-of-bounds Read and Out-of-bounds Write in Facebook Hermes
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-1912 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, a proxy for how much of the ecosystem is exposed.
hermes-enginenpmDescription
An out-of-bounds read/write vulnerability when executing lazily compiled inner generator functions in Facebook Hermes prior to commit 091835377369c8fd5917d9b87acffa721ad2a168 allows attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code via crafted JavaScript. Note that this is only exploitable if the application using Hermes permits evaluation of untrusted JavaScript. Hence, most React Native applications are not affected.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | hermes-engine | all versions | 0.5.2npm install hermes-engine@0.5.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for hermes-engine, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update hermes-engine to 0.5.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-1912 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2020-1912 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-1912. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-1912 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-1912 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.