CVE-2022-46164 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.4) CWE-665 vulnerability in nodebb. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for nodebb — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Account takeover via prototype vulnerability
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-2022-46164.
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.
nodebbnpmDescription
Impact
Due to a plain object with a prototype being used in socket.io message handling a specially crafted payload can be used to impersonate other users and takeover accounts.
Patches
Patched in 2.6.1
Workarounds
Site maintainers can cherry-pick https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/commit/48d143921753914da45926cca6370a92ed0c46b8 into their codebase to patch the exploit.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Discuss it on our community forum Email us at [email protected]
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | nodebb | all versions | 2.6.1npm install nodebb@2.6.1 |
Affected Products
nodebbnodebbResearch 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 nodebb, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update nodebb to 2.6.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-46164 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-2022-46164 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.