GHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr — npm
HIGHGHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) Path Traversal vulnerability in npm. A fix is available for npm — see the affected versions and patch details below.
npm Vulnerable to Global node_modules Binary Overwrite
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
GHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr 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 376,715 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.
npmnpmDescription
Versions of the npm CLI prior to 6.13.4 are vulnerable to a Global node_modules Binary Overwrite. It fails to prevent existing globally-installed binaries to be overwritten by other package installations.
For example, if a package was installed globally and created a serve binary, any subsequent installs of packages that also create a serve binary would overwrite the first binary. This will not overwrite system binaries but only binaries put into the global node_modules directory.
This behavior is still allowed in local installations and also through install scripts. This vulnerability bypasses a user using the --ignore-scripts install option.
Recommendation
Upgrade to version 6.13.4 or later.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | npm | all versions | 6.13.4npm install npm@6.13.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for npm, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update npm to 6.13.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr 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 GHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | nodejs:12-8010020200116150415.c27ad7f8 | RHEA-2020:0330 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | nodejs:10-8010020200213140254.c27ad7f8 | RHSA-2020:0579 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 Update Services for SAP Solutions | nodejs:10-8000020200214110450.f8e95b4e | RHSA-2020:0573 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | rh-nodejs10-nodejs-0:10.19.0-1.el7 | RHSA-2020:0597 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | rh-nodejs12-nodejs-0:12.16.1-1.el7 | RHSA-2020:0602 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | rh-nodejs8-nodejs-0:8.17.0-2.el7 | RHSA-2020:2625 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-4328-8hgf-7wjr across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.