CVE-2025-68278 — tinacms
Fix: tinacms/tinacms@fa7c27aCVE-2025-68278 is a Code Injection vulnerability in tinacms. A fix is available for tinacms — see the affected versions and patch details below.
tinacms vulnerable to arbitrary code execution
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.
- 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-2025-68278.
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.
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.
tinacmsnpm@tinacms/clinpm@tinacms/graphqlnpmDescription
Summary
tinacms uses the gray-matter package in an insecure way allowing attackers that can control the content of the processed markdown files, e.g., blog posts, to execute arbitrary code.
Details
The gray-matter package executes by default the code in the markdown file's front matter. tinacms does not change this behavior when process markdown file, e.g., by passing a custom engine property for js/javascript in the options object.
PoC
- Create a tinacms app using the cli/documentation:
npx create-tina-app@latest
- Modify one of the blog posts to contain the following front matter:
---js
{
"title": "Pawned" + console.log(require("fs").readFileSync("/etc/passwd").toString())
}
---
- Start the tinacms server, e.g., with
npm run dev - Observe the console of the server printing the password file, showing that attackers can execute arbitrary commands.
Impact
RCE: attackers can execute arbitrary JavaScript code on the server hosting tinacms.
Feasibility
Potential attack scenarios can be executed like this: Companies often have technical writers as contractors. These contractors produce md files, which they send over email or upload in a shared cloud folder. Developers download these files and upload them in tinacms's content folder. While this example might appear speculative or contrived, a general observation is that developers would be very surprised to find out that processing untrusted markdown files via tinacms = server-side code execution = complete machine take over. That is, tinacms users might not expect markdown files to contain anything else than data and gray-matter violates that assumption.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | tinacms | all versions | 3.1.1npm install tinacms@3.1.1 |
| 📦npm | @tinacms/cli | all versions | 2.0.4npm install @tinacms/cli@2.0.4 |
| 📦npm | @tinacms/graphql | all versions | 2.0.3npm install @tinacms/graphql@2.0.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for tinacms, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update tinacms to 3.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-68278 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-2025-68278 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2025-68278. 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-2025-68278 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2025-68278 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.