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.
Blast Radius
dsetReal-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
Overview
Prototype pollution vulnerability in 'dset' versions 1.0.0 through 2.0.1 allows attacker to cause a denial of service and may lead to remote code execution.
Details
The NPM module 'dset' can be abused by Prototype Pollution vulnerability since the function ‘export ()' did not check for the type of object before assigning value to the property. Due to this flaw an attacker could create a non-existent property or able to manipulate the property which leads to Denial of Service or potentially Remote code execution.
PoC
The export function accepts three arguments obj, keys, val. Due to the absence of validation, at values passed into keys, val arguments, an attacker can supply a malicious value by adjusting the keys value to include the __proto__ property. Since there is no validation before assigning property to check whether the assigned keys is the Object's own property or not, the property isAdmin will be directly be assigned to the empty obj({}) thereby polluting the Object prototype. Later in the code, if there is a check to validate isAdmin the valued would be substituted as "true" as it had been polluted.
const dset = require('dset');
var obj = {}
console.log("Before : " + obj.isAdmin);
dset(obj, '__proto__.polluted', true);
console.log("After : " + obj.polluted);
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | dset | ≥ 1.0.0&&< 2.0.1 | 2.0.1 |
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 dset. 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 dset to 2.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q4xc-7cw8-cgfj 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-q4xc-7cw8-cgfj 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-q4xc-7cw8-cgfj. 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-q4xc-7cw8-cgfj in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-q4xc-7cw8-cgfj across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.