GHSA-44fp-w29j-9vj5 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-401 vulnerability in multer. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-44fp-w29j-9vj5 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Multer vulnerable to Denial of Service via memory leaks from unclosed streams
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.
multernpmDescription
Impact
Multer <2.0.0 is vulnerable to a resource exhaustion and memory leak issue due to improper stream handling. When the HTTP request stream emits an error, the internal busboy stream is not closed, violating Node.js stream safety guidance.
This leads to unclosed streams accumulating over time, consuming memory and file descriptors. Under sustained or repeated failure conditions, this can result in denial of service, requiring manual server restarts to recover. All users of Multer handling file uploads are potentially impacted.
Patches
Users should upgrade to 2.0.0
Workarounds
None
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | multer | all versions | 2.0.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for multer. 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 multer to 2.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-44fp-w29j-9vj5 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-44fp-w29j-9vj5 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-44fp-w29j-9vj5. 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-44fp-w29j-9vj5 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-44fp-w29j-9vj5 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.