CVE-2022-46175: Json5 Prototype Pollution Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-9c47-m6qq-7p4h",
  "modified" : "2024-02-13T21:31:39Z",
  "published" : "2022-12-29T01:51:03Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2022-46175" ],
  "summary" : "Prototype Pollution in JSON5 via Parse Method",
  "details" : "The `parse` method of the JSON5 library before and including version `2.2.1` does not restrict parsing of keys named `__proto__`, allowing specially crafted strings to pollute the prototype of the resulting object.\n\nThis vulnerability pollutes the prototype of the object returned by `JSON5.parse` and not the global Object prototype, which is the commonly understood definition of Prototype Pollution. However, polluting the prototype of a single object can have significant security impact for an application if the object is later used in trusted operations.\n\n## Impact\nThis vulnerability could allow an attacker to set arbitrary and unexpected keys on the object returned from `JSON5.parse`. The actual impact will depend on how applications utilize the returned object and how they filter unwanted keys, but could include denial of service, cross-site scripting, elevation of privilege, and in extreme cases, remote code execution.\n\n## Mitigation\nThis vulnerability is patched in json5 v2.2.2 and later. A patch has also been backported for json5 v1 in versions v1.0.2 and later.\n\n## Details\n \nSuppose a developer wants to allow users and admins to perform some risky operation, but they want to restrict what non-admins can do. To accomplish this, they accept a JSON blob from the user, parse it using `JSON5.parse`, confirm that the provided data does not set some sensitive keys, and then performs the risky operation using the validated data:\n \n```js\nconst JSON5 = require('json5');\n\nconst doSomethingDangerous = (props) => {\n  if (props.isAdmin) {\n    console.log('Doing dangerous thing as admin.');\n  } else {\n    console.log('Doing dangerous thing as user.');\n  }\n};\n\nconst secCheckKeysSet = (obj, searchKeys) => {\n  let searchKeyFound = false;\n  Object.keys(obj).forEach((key) => {\n    if (searchKeys.indexOf(key) > -1) {\n      searchKeyFound = true;\n    }\n  });\n  return searchKeyFound;\n};\n\nconst props = JSON5.parse('{\"foo\": \"bar\"}');\nif (!secCheckKeysSet(props, ['isAdmin', 'isMod'])) {\n  doSomethingDangerous(props); // \"Doing dangerous thing as user.\"\n} else {\n  throw new Error('Forbidden...');\n}\n```\n \nIf the user attempts to set the `isAdmin` key, their request will be rejected:\n \n```js\nconst props = JSON5.parse('{\"foo\": \"bar\", \"isAdmin\": true}');\nif (!secCheckKeysSet(props, ['isAdmin', 'isMod'])) {\n  doSomethingDangerous(props);\n} else {\n  throw new Error('Forbidden...'); // Error: Forbidden...\n}\n```\n \nHowever, users can instead set the `__proto__` key to `{\"isAdmin\": true}`. `JSON5` will parse this key and will set the `isAdmin` key on the prototype of the returned object, allowing the user to bypass the security check and run their request as an admin:\n \n```js\nconst props = JSON5.parse('{\"foo\": \"bar\", \"__proto__\": {\"isAdmin\": true}}');\nif (!secCheckKeysSet(props, ['isAdmin', 'isMod'])) {\n  doSomethingDangerous(props); // \"Doing dangerous thing as admin.\"\n} else {\n  throw new Error('Forbidden...');\n}\n ```",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "json5"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2.2.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "json5"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.0.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/json5/json5/security/advisories/GHSA-9c47-m6qq-7p4h"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-46175"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/json5/json5/issues/199"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/json5/json5/issues/295"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/json5/json5/pull/298"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/json5/json5/commit/62a65408408d40aeea14c7869ed327acead12972"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/json5/json5/commit/7774c1097993bc3ce9f0ac4b722a32bf7d6871c8"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/json5/json5"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/11/msg00021.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/3S26TLPLVFAJTUN3VIXFDEBEXDYO22CE"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-1321" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2022-12-29T01:51:03Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2022-12-24T04:15:00Z"
  }
}