How severe is CVE-2022-31179?

CVE-2022-31179 has a CVSS score of 8.1/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-31179?

CVE-2022-31179 affects the following packages: shescape (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2022-31179?

Update shescape to 1.5.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-31179 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2022-31179 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for shescape, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2022-31179 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.

Is CVE-2022-31179 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2022-31179, 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-2022-31179?

CVE-2022-31179 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.4%, placing it in the 73th 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.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2022-31179?

CVE-2022-31179 is classified as CWE-74 (CWE-74). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2022-31179 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2022-31179 was published on August 1, 2022 and was last updated on October 21, 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

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2022-31179 — shescape

HIGHFix: ericcornelissen/shescape#332

CVE-2022-31179 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) CWE-74 vulnerability in shescape. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for shescape — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Insufficient escaping of line feeds for CMD in shescape

Also known asGHSA-jjc5-fp7p-6f8w

Published

Aug 1, 2022

Updated

Oct 21, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 6, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

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-2022-31179.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs73th percentile — riskier than 73% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

1 pkg affected

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.

23other npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream

shescapenpm

20Kdownloads / week

Description

Impact

This impacts users that use Shescape (any API function) to escape arguments for cmd.exe on Windows. An attacker can omit all arguments following their input by including a line feed character ('\n') in the payload. Example:

import cp from "node:child_process";
import * as shescape from "shescape";

// 1. Prerequisites
const options = {
  shell: "cmd.exe",
};

// 2. Attack
const payload = "attacker\n";

// 3. Usage
let escapedPayload;
escapedPayload = shescape.escape(payload, options);
// Or
escapedPayload = shescape.escapeAll([payload], options)[0];
// Or
escapedPayload = shescape.quote(payload, options);
// Or
escapedPayload = shescape.quoteAll([payload], options)[0];

cp.execSync(`echo Hello ${escapedPayload}! How are you doing?`, options);
// Outputs:  "Hello attacker"

Note: execSync is just illustrative here, all of exec, execFile, execFileSync, fork, spawn, and spawnSync can be attacked using a line feed character if CMD is the shell being used.

Patches

This bug has been patched in v1.5.8 which you can upgrade to now. No further changes are required.

Workarounds

Alternatively, line feed characters ('\n') can be stripped out manually or the user input can be made the last argument (this only limits the impact).

References

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Comment on https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/pull/332
Open an issue at https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/issues (New issue > Question > Get started)

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`shescape`	all versions	1.5.8`npm install shescape@1.5.8`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

shescapeshescape_project

< 1.5.8

range

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.

Shescape is a simple shell escape package for JavaScript. Versions prior…

github.comNVDAug 2022

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for shescape, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update shescape to 1.5.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-31179 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact This impacts users that use Shescape (any API function) to escape arguments for **cmd.exe** on **Windows**. An attacker can omit all arguments following their input by including a line feed character (`'\n'`) in the payload. Example: ```javascript import cp from "node:child_process"; import * as shescape from "shescape"; // 1. Prerequisites const options = { shell: "cmd.exe", }; // 2. Attack const payload = "attacker\n"; // 3. Usage let escapedPayload; escapedPayload = shescape.escape(payload, options); // Or escapedPayload = shescape.escapeAll([payload], options)[0]; // Or e