CVE-2020-7720 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.3) CWE-1321 vulnerability in node-forge. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for node-forge — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Prototype Pollution in node-forge
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-7720 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
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.
node-forgenpmDescription
The package node-forge before 0.10.0 is vulnerable to Prototype Pollution via the util.setPath function. Note: Version 0.10.0 is a breaking change removing the vulnerable functions.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | node-forge | all versions | 0.10.0npm install node-forge@0.10.0 |
Affected Products
forgedigitalbazaarResearch 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 node-forge, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update node-forge to 0.10.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-7720 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.
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.
In Red Hat Openshift Container Storage 4 the noobaa-core container includes the affected version of node-forge as a dependency of google-p12-pem, however the vulnerable function `util.setPath` is not being used and hence this issue has been rated as having a security impact of Low. In OpenShift Container Platform…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Tower 3.7 for RHEL 7 | ansible-tower-37/ansible-tower-rhel7:3.7.4-1 | RHSA-2020:5249 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage 4.6.0 on RHEL-8 | ocs4/mcg-core-rhel8:5.6.0-38.31e0c3c7b.5.6 | RHSA-2020:5605 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-7720 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.