flattenizer vulnerable to prototype pollution
Overview
Prototype pollution vulnerability in ‘flattenizer’ versions 0.0.5 through 1.0.5 allows an attacker to cause a denial of service and may lead to remote code execution.
Details
The NPM module 'flattenizer' can be abused by Prototype Pollution vulnerability since the function 'unflatten()' did not check for the type of object before assigning value to the property. Due to this flaw an attacker could create a non-existent property or able to manipulate the property which leads to Denial of Service or potentially Remote code execution.
PoC Details
There is no validation before assigning the property to check whether the assigned argument is the Object's own property or not, the property polluted will be directly be assigned thereby polluting the Object prototype. Later in the code, if there is a check to validate polluted the valued would be substituted as "true" as it had been polluted.
var flattenizer = require("flattenizer")
flattenizer.unflatten({'__proto__.polluted': true});
console.log(polluted);
Affected software
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| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm package | flattenizer | >= 0.0.5, < 1.1.1 | 1.1.1 |
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-28279
- https://github.com/sahellebusch/flattenizer/pull/13
- https://github.com/sahellebusch/flattenizer/commit/3c6a6353df7c8879e931973b81a49a47f6c2b399
- https://web.archive.org/web/20210104205035/https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2020-28279
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-1321- Platform
- npm
- Package
flattenizer- Disclosed
- 24.05.2022
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-vq33-26pr-r4h6 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: flattenizer
All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
This is the only known vulnerability of this package.
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