GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in vm2. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for vm2 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
vm2 Sandbox Escape vulnerability
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5.
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-cchq-frgv-rjh5 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 379,145 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, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
vm2npmDescription
In vm2 for versions up to 3.9.19, Promise handler sanitization can be bypassed, allowing attackers to escape the sandbox and run arbitrary code.
Impact
Remote Code Execution, assuming the attacker has arbitrary code execution primitive inside the context of vm2 sandbox.
Patches
None.
Workarounds
None.
References
PoC - https://gist.github.com/leesh3288/f693061e6523c97274ad5298eb2c74e9
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in VM2
Thanks to Xion (SeungHyun Lee) of KAIST Hacking Lab for disclosing this vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | vm2 | all versions | 3.10.0npm install vm2@3.10.0 |
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 vm2, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update vm2 to 3.10.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5 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-cchq-frgv-rjh5 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5. 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-cchq-frgv-rjh5 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.