GHSA-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-1321 vulnerability in tarteaucitronjs. A fix is available for tarteaucitronjs — see the affected versions and patch details below.
tarteaucitron.js allows prototype pollution via custom text injection
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc.
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-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc 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 378,156 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.
tarteaucitronjsnpmDescription
A vulnerability was identified in tarteaucitron.js, where the addOrUpdate function, used for applying custom texts, did not properly validate input. This allowed an attacker with direct access to the site's source code or a CMS plugin to manipulate JavaScript object prototypes, leading to potential security risks such as data corruption or unintended code execution.
Impact
An attacker with high privileges could exploit this vulnerability to:
- Modify object prototypes, affecting core JavaScript behavior,
- Cause application crashes or unexpected behavior,
- Potentially introduce further security vulnerabilities depending on the application's architecture.
Fix https://github.com/AmauriC/tarteaucitron.js/commit/74c354c413ee3f82dff97a15a0a43942887c2b5b
The issue was resolved by ensuring that user-controlled inputs cannot modify JavaScript object prototypes.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | tarteaucitronjs | all versions | 1.20.1npm install tarteaucitronjs@1.20.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for tarteaucitronjs, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update tarteaucitronjs to 1.20.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc 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-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc. 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-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-4hwx-xcc5-2hfc across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.