CVE-2021-3822: Jsoneditor Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-hhfg-6hfc-rvxm
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CVSS 5.3
CWE-400 CWE-1333 CWE-697
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2021-3822 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.3) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Jsoneditor libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves regular expression denial of service in jsoneditor. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 9.5.6.

CVE-2021-3822 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2021-3822
GHSA Identifier GHSA-hhfg-6hfc-rvxm
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.3
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Product Jsoneditor
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.3

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L).

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 Low (A:L)

How to Fix CVE-2021-3822

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

jsoneditor fixed: 9.5.6 
npm install jsoneditor@9.5.6
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 jsoneditor

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2021-3822, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls jsoneditor

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Jsoneditor in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 9.5.6), your application is affected.

Note: The npm ls jsoneditor 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 Jsoneditor, 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

JSON Editor is a web-based tool to view, edit, format, and validate JSON. It has various modes such as a tree editor, a code editor, and a plain text editor. The jsoneditor package is vulnerable to ReDoS (regular expression denial of service). An attacker that is able to provide a crafted element as input to the getInnerText function may cause an application to consume an excessive amount of CPU. Below pinned line using vulnerable regex.

CVE-2021-3822 Affected Jsoneditor Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
9.5.6
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
jsoneditor
npm/jsoneditor
npm
< 9.5.6
9.5.6

References

NVD — CVE-2021-3822 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3822
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/josdejong/jsoneditor/commit/092e386cf49f2a1450625617da8e0137ed067c3e
Jsoneditor Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/josdejong/jsoneditor
huntr.dev/bounties/1e3ed803-b... WEB
https://huntr.dev/bounties/1e3ed803-b7ed-42f1-a4ea-c4c75da9de73

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-3822?
CVE-2021-3822 is a security vulnerability in Jsoneditor involving Regular Expression Denial of Service in jsoneditor under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Jsoneditor versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 9.5.6 across affected packages: jsoneditor.
What version fixes CVE-2021-3822?
Upgrading to 9.5.6 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is jsoneditor affected?
Yes, jsoneditor is affected in releases prior to 9.5.6. Upgrade your dependency to 9.5.6 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-3822?
CVE-2021-3822 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2021-3822?
CVE-2021-3822 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 CVE-2021-3822?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls jsoneditor'. 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-hhfg-6hfc-rvxm",
  "modified" : "2022-05-04T03:39:38Z",
  "published" : "2021-09-29T17:15:55Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2021-3822" ],
  "summary" : "Regular Expression Denial of Service in jsoneditor",
  "details" : "JSON Editor is a web-based tool to view, edit, format, and validate JSON. It has various modes such as a tree editor, a code editor, and a plain text editor. The jsoneditor package is vulnerable to ReDoS (regular expression denial of service). An attacker that is able to provide a crafted element as input to the getInnerText function may cause an application to consume an excessive amount of CPU. Below pinned line using vulnerable regex.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "jsoneditor"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "9.5.6"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3822"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/josdejong/jsoneditor/commit/092e386cf49f2a1450625617da8e0137ed067c3e"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/josdejong/jsoneditor"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://huntr.dev/bounties/1e3ed803-b7ed-42f1-a4ea-c4c75da9de73"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-1333", "CWE-400", "CWE-697" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-09-28T20:52:54Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2021-09-27T13:15:00Z"
  }
}