CVE-2023-48699 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.4) CWE-95 vulnerability in fastbots. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for fastbots — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Eval Injection in fastbots
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
fastbotsReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
An attacker could modify the locators.ini locator file with python code that without proper validation it's executed and it could lead to rce. The vulnerability is in the function def locator(self, locator_name: str) in page.py. The vulnerable code that load and execute directly from the file without validation it's:
return eval(self._bot.locator(self._page_name, locator_name))
Patches
In order to mitigate this issue it's important to upgrade to fastbots version 0.1.5 or above.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | fastbots | all versions | 0.1.5pip install --upgrade 'fastbots==0.1.5' |
Affected Products
fastbotsubertidavideResearch 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 fastbots, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update fastbots to 0.1.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-48699 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-48699 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.