GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759: Acorn Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Share
CVSS 7.5
CWE-400
Published
Advisory Summary

GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Acorn libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves regular expression denial of service in acorn. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 5.7.4, 6.4.1, 7.1.1.

GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759 at a Glance

CVE Identifier N/A
GHSA Identifier GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Acorn
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Acorn dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

acorn fixed: 5.7.4 
npm install acorn@5.7.4
acorn fixed: 6.4.1 
npm install acorn@6.4.1
acorn fixed: 7.1.1 
npm install acorn@7.1.1
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

npm ls acorn

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls acorn

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Acorn in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 5.7.4), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls acorn command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, where the product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource. In Acorn, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

Affected versions of acorn are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service. A regex in the form of /[x-\ud800]/u causes the parser to enter an infinite loop. The string is not valid UTF16 which usually results in it being sanitized before reaching the parser. If an application processes untrusted input and passes it directly to acorn, attackers may leverage the vulnerability leading to Denial of Service.

GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759 Affected Acorn Versions

3 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
5.7.46.4.17.1.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
acorn
npm/acorn
npm
≥ 5.5.0
< 5.7.4
5.7.4
acorn
npm/acorn
npm
≥ 6.0.0
< 6.4.1
6.4.1
acorn
npm/acorn
npm
≥ 7.0.0
< 7.1.1
7.1.1

References

Acorn Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/acornjs/acorn/issues/929
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/acornjs/acorn/commit/793c0e569ed1158672e3a40aeed1d8518832b802
snyk.io/vuln/snyk-js-acorn-... WEB
https://snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-ACORN-559469
www.npmjs.com/advisories/1488 WEB
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1488

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759?
GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759 is a security vulnerability in Acorn involving Regular Expression Denial of Service in Acorn under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Acorn versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 5.7.4, 6.4.1, 7.1.1 across affected packages: acorn.
What version fixes GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759?
Upgrading to 5.7.4, 6.4.1, 7.1.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is acorn affected?
Yes, acorn is affected in releases prior to 5.7.4, 6.4.1, 7.1.1. Upgrade your dependency to 5.7.4, 6.4.1, 7.1.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759?
GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759?
GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759 is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.).
How can I check npm dependencies for GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls acorn'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-6chw-6frg-f759",
  "modified" : "2021-08-23T15:10:32Z",
  "published" : "2020-04-03T21:48:38Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "Regular Expression Denial of Service in Acorn",
  "details" : "Affected versions of acorn are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service.\nA regex in the form of /[x-\\ud800]/u causes the parser to enter an infinite loop.\nThe string is not valid UTF16 which usually results in it being sanitized before reaching the parser.\nIf an application processes untrusted input and passes it directly to acorn,\nattackers may leverage the vulnerability leading to Denial of Service.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "acorn"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "5.5.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "5.7.4"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "acorn"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "6.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "6.4.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "acorn"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "7.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "7.1.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/acornjs/acorn/issues/929"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/acornjs/acorn/commit/793c0e569ed1158672e3a40aeed1d8518832b802"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JS-ACORN-559469"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1488"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-04-03T21:42:14Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}