How severe is GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv?

No CVSS score has been assigned to GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv yet. Review the advisory details and affected package list to assess your exposure.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv?

GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv affects the following packages: color-string (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv?

Update color-string to 2.1.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for color-string. 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 GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv 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 GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv 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 GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv?

GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.4%, placing it in the 30th 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 GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv?

GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv is classified as CWE-506 (CWE-506). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv was published on September 15, 2025 and was last updated on September 16, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv: color-string

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk30th 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

📦color-string

Real-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

Impact

On 8 September 2025, the npm publishing account for color-string was taken over after a phishing attack. Version 2.1.1 was published, functionally identical to the previous patch version, but with a malware payload added attempting to redirect cryptocurrency transactions to the attacker's own addresses from within browser environments.

Local environments, server environments, command line applications, etc. are not affected. If the package was used in a browser context (e.g. a direct <script> inclusion, or via a bundling tool such as Babel, Rollup, Vite, Next.js, etc.) there is a chance the malware still exists and such bundles will need to be rebuilt.

The malware seemingly only targets cryptocurrency transactions and wallets such as MetaMask. See references below for more information on the payload.

Patches

npm removed the offending package from the registry over the course of the day on 8 September, preventing further downloads from npm proper.

On 13 September, the package owner published new patch versions to help cache-bust those using private registries who might still have the compromised version cached. This version is functionally identical to the previously known-good version, published as a patch version bump above the compromised version.

Users should update to the latest patch version, completely remove their node_modules directory, clean their package manager's global cache, and rebuild any browser bundles from scratch.

Those operating private registries or registry mirrors should purge the offending versions from any caches.

References

Point of Contact

In the event suspicious behavior is still observed for the package listed in this security advisory after performing all of the above cleaning operations (see Patches above), please reach out via one of the following channels of communication:

Bluesky, package owner: https://bsky.app/profile/bad-at-computer.bsky.social
debug repository, tracking issue (applies to all packages affected in the breach): https://github.com/debug-js/debug/issues/1005

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`color-string`	≥ 2.1.1&&< 2.1.2	2.1.2

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for color-string. 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 color-string to 2.1.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv 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 GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv 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 GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact On 8 September 2025, the npm publishing account for `color-string` was taken over after a phishing attack. Version `2.1.1` was published, functionally identical to the previous patch version, but with a malware payload added attempting to redirect cryptocurrency transactions to the attacker's own addresses from within browser environments. Local environments, server environments, command line applications, etc. are not affected. If the package was used in a browser context (e.g. a direct `<script>` inclusion, or via a bundling tool such as Babel, Rollup, Vite, Next.js, etc.) there

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv across npm 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

GHSA-286p-vc9p-p5qv