CVE-2023-22578 is a critical-severity (CVSS 10) CWE-790 vulnerability in @sequelize/core. A fix is available for @sequelize/core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Sequalize - Default support for “raw attributes” when using parentheses
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-2023-22578.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-22578 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
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.
@sequelize/corenpmsequelizenpmDescription
Impact
Sequelize 6.28.2 and prior has a dangerous feature where using parentheses in the attribute option would make Sequelize use the string as-is in the SQL
User.findAll({
attributes: [
['count(id)', 'count']
]
});
Produced
SELECT count(id) AS "count" FROM "users"
Patches
This feature was deprecated in Sequelize 5, and using it prints a deprecation warning.
This issue has been patched in @sequelize/[email protected] and [email protected].
In Sequelize 7, it now produces the following:
SELECT "count(id)" AS "count" FROM "users"
In Sequelize 6, it throws an error explaining that we had to introduce a breaking change, and requires the user to explicitly opt-in to either the Sequelize 7 behavior (always escape) or the Sequelize 5 behavior (inline attributes that include () without escaping). See https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/pull/15710 for more information.
Mitigations
Do not use user-provided content to build your list or attributes. If you do, make sure that attribute in question actually exists on your model by checking that it exists in the rawAttributes property of your model first.
A discussion thread about this issue is open at https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/discussions/15694 CVE: CVE-2023-22578
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @sequelize/core | all versions | 7.0.0-alpha.20npm install @sequelize/core@7.0.0-alpha.20 |
| 📦npm | sequelize | all versions | 6.29.0npm install sequelize@6.29.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @sequelize/core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @sequelize/core to 7.0.0-alpha.20 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-22578 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-22578 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-22578. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-22578 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-22578 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.