GHSA-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in jsonpath-plus. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for jsonpath-plus — see the affected versions and patch details below.
JSONPath Plus allows Remote Code Execution
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.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp.
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-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp 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 10–50% 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.
jsonpath-plusnpmDescription
Versions of the package jsonpath-plus before 10.3.0 are vulnerable to Remote Code Execution (RCE) due to improper input sanitization. An attacker can execute aribitrary code on the system by exploiting the unsafe default usage of eval='safe' mode.
Note:
This is caused by an incomplete fix for CVE-2024-21534.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | jsonpath-plus | all versions | 10.3.0npm install jsonpath-plus@10.3.0 |
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 jsonpath-plus, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update jsonpath-plus to 10.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp 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-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
How to detect GHSA-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id ghsa-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp -u https://target- Template
- JSONPath Plus < 10.3.0 - Remote Code Execution
- Severity
- critical
- Impact
- Attackers can execute arbitrary code on the system, potentially leading to full system compromise.
- Remediation
- Update to version 10.3.0 or later.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (Jaenact), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-hw8r-x6gr-5gjp across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.