How severe is CVE-2022-21681?

CVE-2022-21681 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-21681?

CVE-2022-21681 affects the following packages: marked (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2022-21681?

Update marked to 4.0.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-21681 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2022-21681 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for marked. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2022-21681 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against CVE-2022-21681?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-21681 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2022-21681 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2022-21681, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation 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-2022-21681?

CVE-2022-21681 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 2.7%, placing it in the 84th 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.

When was CVE-2022-21681 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2022-21681 was published on January 14, 2022 and was last updated on April 10, 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

CVE-2022-21681

HIGH

Exponential catastrophic backtracking (ReDoS) in marked

Also known asGHSA-5v2h-r2cx-5xgj

Published

Jan 14, 2022

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

2.7%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk84th percentile+2.05%

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.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

📦marked

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Marked is a markdown parser and compiler. Prior to version 4.0.10, the regular expression inline.reflinkSearch may cause catastrophic backtracking against some strings and lead to a denial of service (DoS). Anyone who runs untrusted markdown through a vulnerable version of marked and does not use a worker with a time limit may be affected. This issue is patched in version 4.0.10. As a workaround, avoid running untrusted markdown through marked or run marked on a worker thread and set a reasonable time limit to prevent draining resources.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`marked`	all versions	4.0.10

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.

Marked is a markdown parser and compiler. Prior to version 4.0.10, the r…

github.comNVDJan 2022

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for marked. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update marked to 4.0.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-21681 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-21681 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2022-21681. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Marked is a markdown parser and compiler. Prior to version 4.0.10, the regular expression `inline.reflinkSearch` may cause catastrophic backtracking against some strings and lead to a denial of service (DoS). Anyone who runs untrusted markdown through a vulnerable version of marked and does not use a worker with a time limit may be affected. This issue is patched in version 4.0.10. As a workaround, avoid running untrusted markdown through marked or run marked on a worker thread and set a reasonable time limit to prevent draining resources.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2022-21681 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2022-21681 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works