GHSA-5fp6-4xw3-xqq3 — @keystone-6/core
GHSA-5fp6-4xw3-xqq3 is a security vulnerability in @keystone-6/core. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
@keystone-6/core's bundled cuid package known to be insecure
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.
@keystone-6/corenpmDescription
Summary
The cuid package used by @keystone-6/* and upstream dependencies is deprecated and marked as insecure by the author.
As reported by the author
Cuid and other k-sortable and non-cryptographic ids (Ulid, ObjectId, KSUID, all UUIDs) are all insecure. Use @paralleldrive/cuid2 instead.
What are doing about this?
- We are waiting on Prisma to add support for
cuid2 - Alternatively, we might default to a random string ourselves
What can I do about this?
We have added a work-around for users who want to provide custom identifiers in https://github.com/keystonejs/keystone/pull/8645
What if I need a cuid?
The features marked as a security vulnerability by @paralleldrive are sometimes actually needed (as written in the README of cuid) - the problem is the inherent risks that features like this can have.
You might actually want the features of a monotonically increasing (auto-increment, k-sortable), and timestamp-based id as part of your application, and keystone should support that - but you might not want them by default. This is why this security advisory has been accepted by me (@dcousens), we currently use cuid identifiers by default, and that should change.
Impact
I have accepted this security advisory on the basis that we don't need this kind of identifier typically, and the need for them should be driven by an application's requirements, not a convenient default.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @keystone-6/core | all versions | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @keystone-6/core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of @keystone-6/core has shipped for GHSA-5fp6-4xw3-xqq3 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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-5fp6-4xw3-xqq3 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-5fp6-4xw3-xqq3. 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-5fp6-4xw3-xqq3 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-5fp6-4xw3-xqq3 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.