GHSA-85vg-grr5-pw42 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-522 vulnerability in strapi. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for strapi — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Insecure password handling vulnerability in Strapi
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-85vg-grr5-pw42 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 377,166 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, a proxy for how much of the ecosystem is exposed.
strapinpm@strapi/strapinpmDescription
Storing passwords in a recoverable format in the DOCUMENTATION plugin component of Strapi before 3.6.9 and 4.x before 4.1.5 allows an attacker to access a victim's HTTP request. From this, the attacker can get the victim's cookie, base64 decode it, and obtain a cleartext password, leading to getting API documentation for further API attacks.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | strapi | all versions | 3.6.9npm install strapi@3.6.9 |
| 📦npm | @strapi/strapi | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.1.5 | 4.1.5npm install @strapi/strapi@4.1.5 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for strapi, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update strapi to 3.6.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-85vg-grr5-pw42 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-85vg-grr5-pw42 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-85vg-grr5-pw42. 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-85vg-grr5-pw42 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-85vg-grr5-pw42 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.