CVE-2021-32822 — hbs
MEDIUMCVE-2021-32822 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4) CWE-538 vulnerability in hbs. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Insertion of Sensitive Information into Externally-Accessible File or Directory and Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor in hbs
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-32822 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
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.
hbsnpmDescription
The npm hbs package is an Express view engine wrapper for Handlebars. Depending on usage, users of hbs may be vulnerable to a file disclosure vulnerability. There is currently no patch for this vulnerability. hbs mixes pure template data with engine configuration options through the Express render API. By overwriting internal configuration options a file disclosure vulnerability may be triggered in downstream applications. For an example PoC see the referenced GHSL-2021-020.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | hbs | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
hbshbs_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 hbs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of hbs has shipped for CVE-2021-32822 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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-2021-32822 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.