CVE-2020-7604 — pulverizr
CRITICALCVE-2020-7604 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in pulverizr. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
OS Command Injection in pulverizr
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-7604 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
pulverizrReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
pulverizr through 0.7.0 allows execution of arbitrary commands. Within lib/job.js, the variable filename can be controlled by the attacker. This function uses the variable "filename" to construct the argument of the exec call without any sanitization. In order to successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker will need to create a new file with the same name as the attack command.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | pulverizr | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
pulverizrpulverizr_projectResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pulverizr, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of pulverizr has shipped for CVE-2020-7604 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-7604 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.