CVE-2021-23348 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in portprocesses. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for portprocesses — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Arbitrary Command Injection in portprocesses
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-23348 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.
portprocessesnpmDescription
Impact
An Arbitrary Command Injection vulnerability was reported in portprocesses impacting versions <= 1.0.4.
Example (Proof of Concept)
The following example demonstrates the vulnerability and will run touch success therefore creating a file named success.
const portprocesses = require("portprocesses");
portprocesses.killProcess("$(touch success)");
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | portprocesses | all versions | 1.0.5npm install portprocesses@1.0.5 |
Affected Products
portprocessesportprocesses_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 portprocesses, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update portprocesses to 1.0.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-23348 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
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-2021-23348 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.