CVE-2024-38999 is a critical-severity (CVSS 10) CWE-1321 vulnerability in requirejs. A fix is available for requirejs — see the affected versions and patch details below.
jrburke requirejs vulnerable to prototype pollution
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- 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.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-38999.
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
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.
requirejsnpmDescription
jrburke requirejs v2.3.6 was discovered to contain a prototype pollution via the function s.contexts._.configure. This vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via injecting arbitrary properties.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | requirejs | all versions | 2.3.7npm install requirejs@2.3.7 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for requirejs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update requirejs to 2.3.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-38999 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-38999 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.