CVE-2022-37623 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-1321 vulnerability in browserify-shim. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for browserify-shim — see the affected versions and patch details below.
thlorenz browserify-shim vulnerable to prototype pollution
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-37623.
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.
browserify-shimnpmDescription
Prototype pollution vulnerability in function resolveShims in resolve-shims.js in thlorenz browserify-shim 3.8.15 via the shimPath variable in resolve-shims.js.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | browserify-shim | all versions | 3.8.16npm install browserify-shim@3.8.16 |
Affected Products
browserify-shimbrowserify-shim_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 browserify-shim, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update browserify-shim to 3.8.16 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-37623 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
Is CVE-2022-37623 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.