CVE-2021-43616

Publication date 13 November 2021

Last updated 4 August 2025

Ubuntu priority

Medium

Why this priority?

Cvss 3 Severity Score

9.0 · Critical

Score breakdown

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.

Status

Package Ubuntu Release Status
npm 25.10 questing
Vulnerable
25.04 plucky
Vulnerable
24.10 oracular Ignored end of life, was needed
24.04 LTS noble
Vulnerable
23.10 mantic Ignored end of life, was needed
23.04 lunar Ignored end of life, was needed
22.10 kinetic Ignored end of life, was needed
22.04 LTS jammy
Vulnerable
21.10 impish Ignored end of life
21.04 hirsute Ignored end of life
20.04 LTS focal
Not affected
18.04 LTS bionic
Not affected
16.04 LTS xenial
Not affected
14.04 LTS trusty
Not affected

Severity score breakdown

Parameter Value
Base score 9.0 · Critical
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity High
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Scope Changed
Confidentiality High
Integrity impact High
Availability impact High
Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Other references