Vulnerabilities in pkg:npm/content

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Advisory Summary

GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9 is a HIGH denial of service vulnerability (General Security Weakness) affecting Content libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves denial of service in content. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

2 Known Advisory Record(s)
Package Vulnerability Intelligence

pkg:npm/content

2 Known Advisory Record(s)

Vulnerability advisories affecting package pkg:npm/content. Select an advisory below to view technical details or fixes.

Advisory ID CVE / NVD Severity Summary
GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9 - HIGH Denial of Service in content
GHSA-x6wp-rfwh-hcx7 CVE-2017-16111 HIGH Regular Expression Denial of Service in content

GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9 at a Glance

CVE Identifier N/A
GHSA Identifier GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification General Security Weakness
Affected Product Content
Package Ecosystem npm
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9

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

content fixed: Latest secure release 
npm install content@Latest secure release
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 content

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9, inspect your project dependencies using npm:

npm ls content

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

Note: The npm ls content 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 General Security Weakness. In Content, 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

Versions of `content` are vulnerable to Denial of Service. The Content-Encoding HTTP header parser has a vulnerability which will cause the function to throw a system error if the header contains some invalid values. Because hapi rethrows system errors (as opposed to catching expected application errors), the error is thrown all the way up the stack. If no unhandled exception handler is available, the application will exist, allowing an attacker to shut down services. ## Recommendation This package is deprecated and is now maintained as `@hapi/content`. Please update your dependencies to use `@hapi/content`.

GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9 Affected Content Versions

1 component(s)
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
content
npm/content
npm
≤ 4.0.6

References

Content Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/hapijs/content/compare/v4.1.0...v4.1.1
Content Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/hapijs/subtext
www.npmjs.com/advisories/1478 WEB
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1478

Frequently Asked Questions

What is GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9?
GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9 is a security vulnerability in Content involving Denial of Service in content under General Security Weakness.
Which Content versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches across affected packages: content.
What version fixes GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is content affected?
Yes, content is affected in releases prior to Latest secure release. Upgrade your dependency to Latest secure release or later.
What CWE is associated with GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9?
GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9 is classified under General Security Weakness.
How can I check npm dependencies for GHSA-5854-jvxx-2cg9?
Run the dependency tree command: 'npm ls content'. 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-5854-jvxx-2cg9",
  "modified" : "2025-09-29T20:49:54Z",
  "published" : "2020-09-03T15:46:57Z",
  "aliases" : [ ],
  "summary" : "Denial of Service in content",
  "details" : "Versions of `content` are vulnerable to Denial of Service. The Content-Encoding HTTP header parser has a vulnerability which will cause the function to throw a system error if the header contains some invalid values. Because hapi rethrows system errors (as opposed to catching expected application errors), the error is thrown all the way up the stack. If no unhandled exception handler is available, the application will exist, allowing an attacker to shut down services.\n\n## Recommendation\n\nThis package is deprecated and is now maintained as `@hapi/content`. Please update your dependencies to use `@hapi/content`.",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "content"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "last_affected" : "4.0.6"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/hapijs/content/compare/v4.1.0...v4.1.1"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/hapijs/subtext"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1478"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-08-31T19:00:47Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}