How severe is GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f?

GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f has a CVSS score of 5.3/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f?

GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f affects the following packages: serve (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f?

Update serve to 6.5.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for serve. 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.

How do I mitigate GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f?

O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What type of vulnerability is GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f?

GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f is classified as CWE-177 (CWE-177). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f was published on August 9, 2021 and was last updated on November 8, 2023. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦 npm

GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f

MEDIUM

vercel/serve allows access to restricted files if filename is URL encoded.

Also known asCVE-2018-3718

Published

Aug 9, 2021

Updated

Nov 8, 2023

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

Weekly download volume for affected packages — a proxy for how broadly this vulnerability is deployed.

servenpm

3.9Mdownloads / week

Description

serve node module suffers from Improper Handling of URL Encoding by permitting access to ignored files if a filename is URL encoded.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`serve`	all versions	6.5.2

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

serve node module suffers from Improper Handling of URL Encoding by perm…

hackerone.comNVDOct 2019

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for serve. 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 serve to 6.5.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f 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-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f 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-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

serve node module suffers from Improper Handling of URL Encoding by permitting access to ignored files if a filename is URL encoded.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-5rc4-8qqh-vq7f across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works