Your RSA-2048 keys break in 2030. Find every one of them before attackers do.
📦 npm
Not in CISA KEV

GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc ses

Fix: endojs/endo@88cab0b

GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc is a security vulnerability in ses. A fix is available for ses — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Hardening of TypedArrays with non-canonical numeric property names in SES

Published
Oct 20, 2022
Updated
Oct 20, 2022
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Oct 20, 2022 · OSV.dev, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

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.

118other npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream
sesnpm
194Kdownloads / week

Description

Impact

What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted?

In Hardened JavaScript, programs can harden objects to safely share objects with co-tenant programs without risk of these other programs tampering with their API surface. Hardening does not guarantee that objects are pure or immutable, so a hardened Map, for example is superficially tamper-proof, but any party holding a reference to the object can both read and write its contents. Based on this precedent, and because TypedArray instances cannot be frozen with Object.isFrozen, harden does not freeze TypedArrays and instead makes them non-extensible and makes all non-indexed properties non-writable and non-configurable. This is consistent with the treatment of Map because the indexed properties represent mutable content and non-indexed properties represent the API.

Due to a defect in harden, properties that have names that parse as numbers but are not the same as the canonical representation of those numbers, as in "+0" and "" which are both equivalent to their canonical number "0", remain writable after hardening.

Any program treating one of these properties as part of its API and relying on harden to prevent modifications would be vulnerable to an API pollution attack, affecting only instances shared by mutually suspicious parties.

Unlike a Map, a hardened TypedArray can only have numbers for content. Any program that is sharing hardened TypedArrays between co-tentant programs and relying on harden to only allow these programs to communicate exclusively by changing numbers within the bounds of the TypedArray, may inadvertently have arranged for a mechanism for a pair of third-parties to communicate arbitrary objects on these other properties.

Patches

Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to?

SES version 0.16.0 patches this issue, causing harden to recognize properties with non-canonical numeric representations and ensuring that these properties are non-configurable.

Workarounds

Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?

Users should avoid sharing TypedArrays between co-tenant programs and instead create wrapper objects that produce a read-only view of the underlying data. We allow harden to succeed for TypedArrays because the treatment is in fact consistent with the behavior of collections like Map, but all collections shared between co-tentant programs should probably be attenuated to either read- or write-only facets and probably close over only part of the content of the collection. However, the motivation for allowing TypedArrays to be hardened in practice is to allow certain legacy modules to function under Hardened JavaScript with LavaMoat, since they export TypedArrays, even though they would ideally export read-only facets of these.

References

Are there any links users can visit to find out more?

Not at this time.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
📦npmsesall versions0.16.0npm install ses@0.16.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency
  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ses, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update ses to 0.16.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. 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.

  4. How O3 protects you

    O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact _What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted?_ In Hardened JavaScript, programs can `harden` objects to safely share objects with co-tenant programs without risk of these other programs tampering with their API surface. Hardening does not guarantee that objects are pure or immutable, so a hardened `Map`, for example is superficially tamper-proof, but any party holding a reference to the object can both read and write its contents. Based on this precedent, and because `TypedArray` instances cannot be frozen with `Object.isFrozen`, `harden` does not `freeze` `TypedArrays` and i
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.

GHSA-whpx-q3rq-w8jc: ses | O3 Security