Infinite loop causing Denial of Service in colorsGHSA-5rqg-jm4f-cqx7
Fix: Marak/colors.js@137c6daGHSA-5rqg-jm4f-cqx7 is a security vulnerability in colors. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
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.
colorsnpmDescription
colors is a library for including colored text in node.js consoles. Between 07 and 09 January 2022, colors versions 1.4.1, 1.4.2, and 1.4.44-liberty-2 were published including malicious code that caused a Denial of Service due to an infinite loop. Software dependent on these versions experienced the printing of randomized characters to console and an infinite loop resulting in unbound system resource consumption.
Users of colors relying on these specific versions should downgrade to version 1.4.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | colors | ≥ 1.4.1 | No fix |
| 📦npm | colors | 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 colors, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of colors has shipped for GHSA-5rqg-jm4f-cqx7 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
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-5rqg-jm4f-cqx7 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.