GHSA-qwp8-x4ff-5h87
MEDIUMZX Allows Environment Variable Injection for dotenv API
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
zxReal-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
Impact
This vulnerability is an Environment Variable Injection issue in dotenv.stringify, affecting google/zx version 8.3.1.
An attacker with control over environment variable values can inject unintended environment variables into process.env. This can lead to arbitrary command execution or unexpected behavior in applications that rely on environment variables for security-sensitive operations. Applications that process untrusted input and pass it through dotenv.stringify are particularly vulnerable.
Patches
This issue has been patched in version 8.3.2. Users should immediately upgrade to this version to mitigate the vulnerability.
Workarounds
If upgrading is not feasible, users can mitigate the vulnerability by sanitizing user-controlled environment variable values before passing them to dotenv.stringify. Specifically, avoid using ", ', and backticks in values, or enforce strict validation of environment variables before usage.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | zx | ≥ 8.3.1&&< 8.3.2 | 8.3.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for zx. 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 zx to 8.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-qwp8-x4ff-5h87 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-qwp8-x4ff-5h87 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-qwp8-x4ff-5h87. 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-qwp8-x4ff-5h87 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-qwp8-x4ff-5h87 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.