Versions of the npm CLI prior to 6.13.3 are vulnerable to an Arbitrary File Write. It fails to prevent access to folders outside of the intended nodemodules folder through the bin field. A properly constructed entry in the package.json bin field would allow a package publisher to create files on a user's system when the package is installed. It is only possible to affect files that the user running npm install has access to and it is not possible to overwrite files that already exist on disk.
References:
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1434 https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/december-2019-security-releases/ https://blog.npmjs.org/post/189618601100/binary-planting-with-the-npm-cli
Versions of the npm CLI prior to 6.13.4 are vulnerable to a Global nodemodules Binary Overwrite. It fails to prevent existing globally-installed binaries to be overwritten by other package installations.
References:
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1437 https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/december-2019-security-releases/ https://blog.npmjs.org/post/189618601100/binary-planting-with-the-npm-cli
Versions of the npm CLI prior to 6.13.3 are vulnerable to a symlink reference outside of nodemodules. It is possible for packages to create symlinks to files outside of the nodemodules folder through the bin field upon installation. A properly constructed entry in the package.json bin field would allow a package publisher to create a symlink pointing to arbitrary files on a user’s system when the package is installed. Only files accessible by the user running the npm install are affected.
References:
https://www.npmjs.com/advisories/1436 https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/december-2019-security-releases/ https://blog.npmjs.org/post/189618601100/binary-planting-with-the-npm-cli