CVE-2023-0163 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.4) CWE-1321 vulnerability in convict. A fix is available for convict — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Prototype Pollution in convict
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.
- 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-2023-0163.
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.
convictnpmDescription
Impact
- An attacker can inject attributes that are used in other components
- An attacker can override existing attributes with ones that have incompatible type, which may lead to a crash.
The main use case of Convict is for handling server-side configurations written by the admins owning the servers, and not random users. So it's unlikely that an admin would deliberately sabotage their own server. Still a situation can happen where an admin not knowledgeable about JavaScript could be tricked by an attacker into writing the malicious JavaScript code into some config files.
Patches
The problem is patched in [email protected]. Users should upgrade to [email protected].
Workarounds
No way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | convict | all versions | 6.2.4npm install convict@6.2.4 |
Affected Products
convictmozillaDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for convict, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update convict to 6.2.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-0163 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-2023-0163 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.