CVE-2021-43616

Vulnerability Description

The npm ci command in npm 7.x and 8.x through 8.1.3 proceeds with an installation even if dependency information in package-lock.json differs from package.json. This behavior is inconsistent with the documentation, and makes it easier for attackers to install malware that was supposed to have been blocked by an exact version match requirement in package-lock.json. NOTE: The npm team believes this is not a vulnerability. It would require someone to socially engineer package.json which has different dependencies than package-lock.json. That user would have to have file system or write access to change dependencies. The npm team states preventing malicious actors from socially engineering or gaining file system access is outside the scope of the npm CLI.

CVSS Score

Affected Products

Related Weaknesses (CWE)

References

• https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/commands/npm-ciProductVendor Advisory
• https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v8/commands/npm-ci
• https://github.com/icatalina/CVE-2021-43616Third Party Advisory
• https://github.com/npm/cli/commit/457e0ae61bbc55846f5af44afa4066921923490fPatchThird Party Advisory
• https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2701ExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
• https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2701#issuecomment-972900511
• https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2701#issuecomment-979054224
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedorapro
• https://medium.com/cider-sec/this-time-we-were-lucky-85c0dcac94a0ExploitThird Party Advisory
• https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20211210-0002/Third Party Advisory
• https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v7/commands/npm-ciProductVendor Advisory
• https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/v8/commands/npm-ci
• https://github.com/icatalina/CVE-2021-43616Third Party Advisory
• https://github.com/npm/cli/commit/457e0ae61bbc55846f5af44afa4066921923490fPatchThird Party Advisory
• https://github.com/npm/cli/issues/2701ExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory