GHSA-pw54-mh39-w3hc is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) vulnerability in npm-user-validate. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-pw54-mh39-w3hc is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Regular expression denial of service in npm-user-validate
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.
npm-user-validatenpmDescription
This affects the package npm-user-validate before 1.0.1. The regex that validates user emails took exponentially longer to process long input strings beginning with @ characters.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | npm-user-validate | all versions | 1.0.1 |
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 npm-user-validate. 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.
Fix
Update npm-user-validate to 1.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-pw54-mh39-w3hc 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-pw54-mh39-w3hc 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-pw54-mh39-w3hc. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and Software Collections, `npm-user-validate` is used exclusively for `npm`. As a result, this vulnerability is considered Low in such a context. In OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) 3.11 and 4.4 the kibana package has been marked Low (similar to RHEL8) as it is primarily used for npm…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-pw54-mh39-w3hc in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-pw54-mh39-w3hc across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.