CVE-2021-32770 — gatsby-source-wordpress
HIGHCVE-2021-32770 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in gatsby-source-wordpress. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for gatsby-source-wordpress — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Basic-auth app bundle credential exposure in gatsby-source-wordpress
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-32770 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,987 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.
gatsby-source-wordpressnpmDescription
Impact
The gatsby-source-wordpress plugin prior to versions 4.0.8 and 5.9.2 leaks .htaccess HTTP Basic Authentication variables into the app.js bundle during build-time. Users who are not initializing basic authentication credentials in the gatsby-config.js are not affected.
Example affected gatsby-config.js:
resolve: 'gatsby-source-wordpress',
auth: {
htaccess: {
username: leaked_username
password: leaked_password,
},
},
Patches
A patch has been introduced in [email protected] and [email protected] which mitigates the issue by filtering all variables specified in the auth: { } section. Users that depend on this functionality are advised to upgrade to the latest release of gatsby-source-wordpress, run gatsby clean followed by a gatsby build.
Workarounds
There is no known workaround at this time, other than manually editing the app.js file post-build.
For more information
Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | gatsby-source-wordpress | all versions | 4.0.8npm install gatsby-source-wordpress@4.0.8 |
| 📦npm | gatsby-source-wordpress | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.9.2 | 5.9.2npm install gatsby-source-wordpress@5.9.2 |
Affected Products
gatsby-source-wordpressgatsbyjsResearch 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 gatsby-source-wordpress, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update gatsby-source-wordpress to 4.0.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-32770 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-32770 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.