Socket.IO: Prototype Pollution via Unsafe Client Session LookupGHSA-wfpm-5gcm-94cg
HIGHFix: socketio/socket.io@830e364GHSA-wfpm-5gcm-94cg is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in @socket.io/cluster-engine. A fix is available for @socket.io/cluster-engine — see the affected versions and patch details below.
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-wfpm-5gcm-94cg.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-wfpm-5gcm-94cg by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
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.
@socket.io/cluster-enginenpmDescription
Impact
This is a prototype pollution / improper client lookup vulnerability in @socket.io/cluster-engine.
Servers using @socket.io/cluster-engine may be impacted when attacker-controlled session IDs are processed in clustered deployments. A malicious client could use special property names such as __proto__, constructor, or other inherited object keys as a session identifier, causing the server to read properties from the object prototype chain instead of only real connected clients.
The impact is denial of service through process crash.
Applications not using @socket.io/cluster-engine are not affected by this specific issue.
Affected versions:
@socket.io/[email protected]
Patches
The issue was fixed in:
@socket.io/[email protected]
Workarounds
If upgrading immediately is not possible, users can reduce exposure by:
- Rejecting or sanitizing suspicious session IDs before they reach the cluster engine.
- Running the cluster engine behind trusted infrastructure that prevents arbitrary clients from crafting raw Engine.IO session-related requests.
These workarounds are defense-in-depth only. Upgrading to a patched version is recommended.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @socket.io/cluster-engine | all versions | 0.1.1npm install @socket.io/cluster-engine@0.1.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @socket.io/cluster-engine, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update @socket.io/cluster-engine to 0.1.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-wfpm-5gcm-94cg is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-wfpm-5gcm-94cg in your dependencies?
Find it across npm, including transitive dependencies.