How severe is CVE-2021-23446?

CVE-2021-23446 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-23446?

CVE-2021-23446 affects the following packages: handsontable (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2021-23446?

Update handsontable to 10.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-23446 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-23446 in my npm dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate CVE-2021-23446 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

Is CVE-2021-23446 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 6 known exploit references for CVE-2021-23446, including 6 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-2021-23446?

CVE-2021-23446 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 3.0%, placing it in the 87th 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. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-23446?

CVE-2021-23446 is classified as CWE-1333 (CWE-1333). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2021-23446 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-23446 was published on September 29, 2021 and was last updated on July 9, 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

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2021-23446 — handsontable

HIGHFix: handsontable/handsontable#8742

CVE-2021-23446 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-1333 vulnerability in handsontable. 6 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for handsontable — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity in handsontable

Also known asGHSA-hf66-r44g-p7j9

Published

Sep 29, 2021

Updated

Jul 9, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

6 known

Exploitation data as of Sep 27, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

3.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs87th percentile — riskier than 87% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-23446 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,386 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% 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.

230other npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream

handsontablenpm

347Kdownloads / week

Description

The package handsontable before 10.0.0; the package handsontable from 0 and before 10.0.0 are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in Handsontable.helper.isNumeric function.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`handsontable`	all versions	10.0.0`npm install handsontable@10.0.0`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

handsontablehandsontable

< 10.0.0

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.