CVE-2022-37601 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-1321 vulnerability in loader-utils. 4 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for loader-utils — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Prototype pollution in webpack loader-utils
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.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-37601.
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.
loader-utilsnpmDescription
Prototype pollution vulnerability in function parseQuery in parseQuery.js in webpack loader-utils via the name variable in parseQuery.js. This affects all versions prior to 1.4.1 and 2.0.3.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | loader-utils | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.0.3 | 2.0.3npm install loader-utils@2.0.3 |
| 📦npm | loader-utils | all versions | 1.4.1npm install loader-utils@1.4.1 |
Affected Products
debian linuxdebianloader-utilswebpack.jsResearch 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 loader-utils, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update loader-utils to 2.0.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-37601 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.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Packages shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux use 'loader-utils' as a transitive dependency. Thus, reducing the impact to Moderate. In Red Hat containerized products like OCP and ODF, the vulnerable loader-utils NodeJS module is bundled as a transitive dependency, hence the direct impact is reduced to Moderate.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| MTA-6.0-RHEL-8 | mta/mta-ui-rhel8:6.0.1-10 | RHSA-2023:0934 |
| RHOL-5.6-RHEL-8 | openshift-logging/logging-view-plugin-rhel8:v5.6.0-28 | RHSA-2023:0264 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-37601 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.