GHSA-5j86-7r7m-p8h6
Parse Server has Denial of Service (DoS) and Cloud Function Dispatch Bypass via Prototype Chain Resolution
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.
Blast Radius
Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.
parse-servernpmDescription
Impact
An unauthenticated attacker can crash the Parse Server process by calling a Cloud Function endpoint with a prototype property name as the function name. The server recurses infinitely, causing a call stack size error that terminates the process.
Other prototype property names bypass Cloud Function dispatch validation and return HTTP 200 responses, even though no such Cloud Functions are defined. The same applies to dot-notation traversal.
All Parse Server deployments that expose the Cloud Function endpoint are affected.
Patches
The internal handler registries for Cloud Functions, Jobs, Triggers, and Validators have been changed to prevent prototype chain properties from being resolved.
Workarounds
Place a reverse proxy or WAF in front of Parse Server and block requests to Object.prototype property names.
References
- GitHub security advisory: https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/security/advisories/GHSA-5j86-7r7m-p8h6
- Fix Parse Server 9: https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/releases/tag/9.5.1-alpha.2
- Fix Parse Server 8: https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/releases/tag/8.6.13
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | parse-server | all versions | 8.6.13 |
| 📦npm | parse-server | ≥ 9.0.0-alpha.1&&< 9.5.1-alpha.2 | 9.5.1-alpha.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for parse-server. 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 parse-server to 8.6.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5j86-7r7m-p8h6 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-5j86-7r7m-p8h6 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-5j86-7r7m-p8h6. 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-5j86-7r7m-p8h6 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-5j86-7r7m-p8h6 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.