GHSA-qc4v-xq2m-65wc is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.8) CWE-440 vulnerability in @backstage/plugin-app-backend. A fix is available for @backstage/plugin-app-backend — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Unexpected visibility of environment variable configurations in @backstage/plugin-app-backend
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.
- 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-qc4v-xq2m-65wc.
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-qc4v-xq2m-65wc 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 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% 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.
@backstage/plugin-app-backendnpmDescription
Impact
Configuration supplied through APP_CONFIG_* environment variables, for example APP_CONFIG_backend_listen_port=7007, where unexpectedly ignoring the visibility defined in configuration schema. This occurred even if the configuration schema specified that they should have backend or secret visibility. This was an intended feature of the APP_CONFIG_* way of supplying configuration, but now clearly goes against the expected behavior of the configuration system. This behavior leads to a risk of potentially exposing sensitive configuration details intended to remain private or restricted to backend processes.
Patches
The issue has been resolved in version 0.3.75 of the @backstage/plugin-app-backend package. Users are encouraged to upgrade to this version to mitigate the vulnerability.
Workarounds
As a temporary measure, avoid supplying secrets using the APP_CONFIG_ configuration pattern. Consider alternative methods for setting secrets, such as the environment substitution available for Backstage configuration.
References
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Open an issue in the Backstage repository Visit our Discord, linked to in Backstage README
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @backstage/plugin-app-backend | all versions | 0.3.75npm install @backstage/plugin-app-backend@0.3.75 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @backstage/plugin-app-backend, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @backstage/plugin-app-backend to 0.3.75 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-qc4v-xq2m-65wc 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-qc4v-xq2m-65wc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-qc4v-xq2m-65wc. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) 1.4 | rhdh/rhdh-hub-rhel9:1.4-1734106454 | RHBA-2024:11265 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-qc4v-xq2m-65wc in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-qc4v-xq2m-65wc across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.