CVE-2022-2564 is a high-severity (CVSS 7) CWE-1321 vulnerability in mongoose. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for mongoose — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Prototype Pollution in automattic/mongoose
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-2564.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
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.
mongoosenpmDescription
Mongoose is a MongoDB object modeling tool designed to work in an asynchronous environment. Affected versions of this package are vulnerable to Prototype Pollution. The Schema.path() function is vulnerable to prototype pollution when setting the schema object. This vulnerability allows modification of the Object prototype and could be manipulated into a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | mongoose | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.4.6 | 6.4.6npm install mongoose@6.4.6 |
| 📦npm | mongoose | all versions | 5.13.15npm install mongoose@5.13.15 |
Affected Products
mongoosemongoosejsResearch 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 mongoose, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update mongoose to 6.4.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-2564 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-2564 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.