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CRITICAL severity

GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg

CRITICAL

GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) vulnerability in maleficent. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.

Malicious Package in maleficent

Published
Sep 3, 2020
Updated
Sep 30, 2021
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
None yet
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Sep 30, 2021 · OSV.dev, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
📦maleficent

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

All versions of maleficent contain malicious code. The package is a demonstration of possible risks when installing npm packages. It gathers system information such as: environment variables, OS information, network interface, AWS credentials, npm credentials and ssh keys. The package prints the information to a local file but does not upload it to a remote server.

Recommendation

Remove the package from your environment. There is no further compromise.

Affected Packages

1 total
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
📦npmmaleficentall versionsNo fix

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency
  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for maleficent. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

  2. Remediation status

    No patched version of maleficent has shipped for GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.

  3. Mitigate without a patch

    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.

  4. How O3 protects you

    O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

All versions of `maleficent` contain malicious code. The package is a demonstration of possible risks when installing npm packages. It gathers system information such as: environment variables, OS information, network interface, AWS credentials, npm credentials and ssh keys. The package prints the information to a local file but does not upload it to a remote server. ## Recommendation Remove the package from your environment. There is no further compromise.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg in your dependencies?

O3 detects GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

GHSA-cr5w-6rv4-r2qg: Malicious Package in… | O3 Security