CVE-2023-50728
MEDIUMUnauthenticated Denial of Service in the octokit/webhooks library
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.
Blast Radius
@octokit/webhooks📦@octokit/webhooks📦@octokit/webhooks📦@octokit/webhooks📦@octokit/app📦octokit📦probotReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
octokit/webhooks is a GitHub webhook events toolset for Node.js. Starting in 9.26.0 and prior to 9.26.3, 10.9.2, 11.1.2, and 12.0.4, there is a problem caused by an issue with error handling in the @octokit/webhooks library because the error can be undefined in some cases. The resulting request was found to cause an uncaught exception that ends the nodejs process. The bug is fixed in octokit/webhooks.js 9.26.3, 10.9.2, 11.1.2, and 12.0.4, app.js 14.02, octokit.js 3.1.2, and Protobot 12.3.3.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @octokit/webhooks | all versions | 9.26.3 |
| 📦npm | @octokit/webhooks | ≥ 10.0.0&&< 10.9.2 | 10.9.2 |
| 📦npm | @octokit/webhooks | ≥ 11.0.0&&< 11.1.2 | 11.1.2 |
| 📦npm | @octokit/webhooks | ≥ 12.0.0&&< 12.0.3 | 12.0.3 |
| 📦npm | @octokit/app | ≥ 14.0.1&&< 14.0.2 | 14.0.2 |
| 📦npm | octokit | all versions | 3.1.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @octokit/webhooks. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update @octokit/webhooks to 9.26.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-50728 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-50728 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2023-50728. 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-2023-50728 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-50728 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.