CVE-2021-23820 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.6) CWE-843 vulnerability in json-pointer. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for json-pointer — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Prototype Pollution in json-pointer
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-2021-23820 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 378,567 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, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
json-pointernpmDescription
This affects versions of package json-pointer up to and including 0.6.1. A type confusion vulnerability can lead to a bypass of CVE-2020-7709 when the pointer components are arrays.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | json-pointer | all versions | 0.6.2npm install json-pointer@0.6.2 |
Research 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 json-pointer, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update json-pointer to 0.6.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-23820 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-2021-23820 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2021-23820. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| RHACS-3.70-RHEL-8 | advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-collector-slim-rhel8:3.70.0-2 | RHSA-2022:4880 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-23820 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2021-23820 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.