GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in vm2. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for vm2 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
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 |
Affected Products
vm2vm2_projectResearch 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
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-cchq-frgv-rjh5 in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.