GHSA-446w-rrm4-r47f is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in shescape. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-446w-rrm4-r47f is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Exposure of home directory through shescape on Unix with Bash
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, a proxy for how much of the ecosystem is exposed.
shescapenpmDescription
Impact
The issue allows for exposure of the home directory on Unix systems when using Bash with the escape or escapeAll functions from the shescape API with the interpolation option set to true. Other tested shells, Dash and Zsh, are not affected.
const cp = require("child_process");
const shescape = require("shescape");
const payload = "home_directory=~";
const options = { interpolation: true };
console.log(cp.execSync(`echo ${shescape.escape(payload, options)}`));
// home_directory=/home/user
Depending on how the output of shescape is used, directory traversal may be possible in the application using shescape.
Patches
The issue was patched in v1.5.1.
Workarounds
Manually escape all instances of the tilde character (~) using arg.replace(/~/g, "\\~").
References
See GitHub issue https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/issues/169.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | shescape | ≥ 1.4.0&&< 1.5.1 | 1.5.1 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for shescape. 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 shescape to 1.5.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-446w-rrm4-r47f 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-446w-rrm4-r47f 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-446w-rrm4-r47f. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-446w-rrm4-r47f in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-446w-rrm4-r47f across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.