How severe is CVE-2023-51661?

CVE-2023-51661 has a CVSS score of 8.4/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-51661?

CVE-2023-51661 affects the following packages: wasmer-cli (crates.io). Ecosystems affected: crates.io.

How do I fix CVE-2023-51661?

Update wasmer-cli to 4.2.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-51661 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-51661 in my crates.io dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for wasmer-cli. 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.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-51661 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against CVE-2023-51661?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-51661 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2023-51661 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2023-51661, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation 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-2023-51661?

CVE-2023-51661 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.6%, placing it in the 44th 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-2023-51661?

CVE-2023-51661 is classified as CWE-284 (CWE-284). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-51661 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-51661 was published on December 22, 2023 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2023-51661: Filesystem sandbox not enforced in wasmer-cli…

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk44th percentile+0.24%

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

1 pkg affected

🦀wasmer-cli

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Wasmer is a WebAssembly runtime that enables containers to run anywhere: from Desktop to the Cloud, Edge and even the browser. Wasm programs can access the filesystem outside of the sandbox. Service providers running untrusted Wasm code on Wasmer can unexpectedly expose the host filesystem. This vulnerability has been patched in version 4.2.4.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🦀crates.io	`wasmer-cli`	≥ 3.0.0&&< 4.2.4	4.2.4

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for wasmer-cli. 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 wasmer-cli to 4.2.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-51661 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-2023-51661 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-2023-51661. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wasmer is a WebAssembly runtime that enables containers to run anywhere: from Desktop to the Cloud, Edge and even the browser. Wasm programs can access the filesystem outside of the sandbox. Service providers running untrusted Wasm code on Wasmer can unexpectedly expose the host filesystem. This vulnerability has been patched in version 4.2.4.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-51661 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2023-51661 across crates.io dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVE-2023-51661