music-metadata: uncatchable process crash parsing a crafted `.dsf` (residual of GHSA-v6c2-xwv6-8xf7)GHSA-8j4c-6x6g-rq3j
MEDIUMFix: Borewit/music-metadata#2700GHSA-8j4c-6x6g-rq3j is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.2) CWE-248 vulnerability in music-metadata. A fix is available for music-metadata — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-8j4c-6x6g-rq3j.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-8j4c-6x6g-rq3j by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
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.
music-metadatanpmDescription
Summary
DsfParser.parseChunks skips an unrecognised chunk's payload with an un-awaited call:
this.tokenizer.ignore(Number(chunkHeader.size) - ChunkHeader.len); // lib/dsf/DsfParser.js:51 — no await
ChunkHeader.len is 12. A crafted .dsf chunk with id != 'fmt ' and size in 0..11 makes the
argument negative; strtok3 (≥ 10.3.5) throws RangeError on a negative ignore. Because the call
is fire-and-forget, the rejection is detached from the parseBuffer() promise chain → unhandled
rejection → Node's default (≥ 15) crashes the process — after parseBuffer() already
resolved, so a caller's try/catch catches nothing and is still taken down.
Residual of GHSA-v6c2-xwv6-8xf7: the ASF site was fixed in 11.12.3 (size validation) and strtok3
now throws on negative ignore; the DSF site was never validated, and its missing await
escalates that throw into an uncatchable crash.
Root cause (lib/dsf/DsfParser.js:34-56)
while (bytesRemaining >= ChunkHeader.len) { // ChunkHeader.len = 12
const chunkHeader = await this.tokenizer.readToken(ChunkHeader); // { id, size }
switch (chunkHeader.id) {
case 'fmt ': { ...; return; }
default: this.tokenizer.ignore(Number(chunkHeader.size) - ChunkHeader.len); break; // size<12 -> negative, no await
}
bytesRemaining -= chunkHeader.size;
}
strtok3 AbstractTokenizer.ignore (L78-79): if (length < 0) throw new RangeError('ignore length must be ≥ 0 bytes');
Steps to reproduce
repro/ — public API only, Node's default unhandled-rejection mode, try/catch around the parse:
npm install && node poc.mjs
Confirmed on 11.14.0:
[app] parseBuffer() RESOLVED — the caller saw no error to catch.
RangeError: ignore length must be ≥ 0 bytes
at DsfParser.parseChunks (.../lib/dsf/DsfParser.js:51)
<process exits non-zero — the "process survived" line never prints>
Impact
DoS: a single crafted .dsf (or any file with the DSD magic) crashes the Node process of any
app parsing untrusted audio with music-metadata (2.2M weekly downloads). The crash bypasses the
caller's error handling, so even apps that correctly try/catch per-file parsing are killed — one
malicious upload can take down a shared server/worker.
Remediation
Add await on line 51 (makes the RangeError a catchable parse error), and validate
chunkHeader.size >= ChunkHeader.len before the skip (as the ASF fix did; also guards the loop
counter). Audit other parsers for un-awaited tokenizer.ignore()/readToken().
Scope / honesty
Requires the DSF path (a DSD -magic file — normal auto-detection). Relies on Node's default
unhandled-rejection mode (throw, default since Node 15); the point is that the standard defensive
per-parse try/catch does not protect against it. Crash (availability), not disclosure/RCE.
Negatives confirmed alongside: ASF infinite loop fixed; negative-ignore infinite-loop class
closed at strtok3; unbounded allocation bounded by strtok3's read bound-check.
Credits
Issue also reported by @ryu7eroo
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | music-metadata | all versions | 11.15.0npm install music-metadata@11.15.0 |
Affected Products
music-metadataborewitDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for music-metadata, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update music-metadata to 11.15.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-8j4c-6x6g-rq3j is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
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-8j4c-6x6g-rq3j in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.