How severe is CVE-2023-38695?

CVE-2023-38695 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-38695?

CVE-2023-38695 affects the following packages: @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2023-38695?

Update @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot to 8.0.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-38695 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-38695 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-38695 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.

Is CVE-2023-38695 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2023-38695, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-38695?

CVE-2023-38695 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.0%, placing it in the 63th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-38695?

CVE-2023-38695 is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2023-38695 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-38695 was published on August 4, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦

📦 npm

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2023-38695 — @simonsmith/cypress-image…

MEDIUMFix: simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot@ef49519

CVE-2023-38695 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot — see the affected versions and patch details below.

cypress-image-snapshot vulnerable to insecure snapshot file names

Also known asGHSA-vxjg-hchx-cc4g

Published

Aug 4, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

2 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 4, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

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-2023-38695.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs63th percentile — riskier than 63% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

1 pkg affected

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.

4other npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream

@simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshotnpm

141Kdownloads / week

Description

Impact

It's possible for a user to pass a relative file path for the snapshot name and reach outside of the project directory into the machine running the test. Example:

  cy.get('h1').matchImageSnapshot('../../../ignore-relative-dirs')

The above will create an ignore-relative-dirs.png three levels up

Patches

Fixed in 8.0.2

Workarounds

Validate all the existing uses of matchImageSnapshot to ensure correct use of the filename argument. Example:

    // snapshot name will be the test title
    cy.matchImageSnapshot();

    // snapshot name will be the name passed in
    cy.matchImageSnapshot('login');

References

https://github.com/simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot/issues/15

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`@simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot`	all versions	8.0.2`npm install @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot@8.0.2`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

cypress image snapshotsimonsmith

< 8.0.2

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

cypress-image-snapshot shows visual regressions in Cypress with jest-ima…

github.comNVDAug 2023

Report on github.com

github.comNVDAug 2023

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @simonsmith/cypress-image-snapshot to 8.0.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-38695 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact It's possible for a user to pass a relative file path for the snapshot name and reach outside of the project directory into the machine running the test. Example: ```js cy.get('h1').matchImageSnapshot('../../../ignore-relative-dirs') ``` The above will create an `ignore-relative-dirs.png` three levels up ### Patches Fixed in `8.0.2` ### Workarounds Validate all the existing uses of `matchImageSnapshot` to ensure correct use of the filename argument. Example: ```js // snapshot name will be the test title cy.matchImageSnapshot(); // snapshot name will be the name pa