CVE-2025-46653 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.1) CWE-338 vulnerability in formidable. A fix is available for formidable — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Formidable relies on hexoid to prevent guessing of filenames for untrusted executable content
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.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-46653.
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.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2025-46653 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
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.
formidablenpmDescription
Formidable (aka node-formidable) 2.x before 2.1.3 and 3.x before 3.5.3 relies on hexoid to prevent guessing of filenames for untrusted executable content; however, hexoid is documented as not "cryptographically secure." (Also, there is a scenario in which only the last two characters of a hexoid string need to be guessed, but this is not often relevant.) NOTE: this does not imply that, in a typical use case, attackers will be able to exploit any hexoid behavior to upload and execute their own content.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | formidable | ≥ 3.1.1-canary.20211030&&< 3.5.3 | 3.5.3npm install formidable@3.5.3 |
| 📦npm | formidable | ≥ 2.1.0&&< 2.1.3 | 2.1.3npm install formidable@2.1.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for formidable, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update formidable to 3.5.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-46653 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2025-46653 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2025-46653. 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-2025-46653 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2025-46653 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.