Versions of the npm CLI prior to 6.13.4 are vulnerable to a Global node_modules Binary Overwrite. It fails to prevent existing globally-installed binaries to be overwritten by other package installations.
For example, if a package was installed globally and created a serve binary, any subsequent installs of packages that also create a serve binary would overwrite the first binary. This will not overwrite system binaries but only binaries put into the global node_modules directory.
This behavior is still allowed in local installations and also through install scripts. This vulnerability bypasses a user using the --ignore-scripts install option.
Recommendation
Upgrade to version 6.13.4 or later.
References
DanielRuf Analyst
Versions of the npm CLI prior to 6.13.4 are vulnerable to a Global node_modules Binary Overwrite. It fails to prevent existing globally-installed binaries to be overwritten by other package installations.
For example, if a package was installed globally and created a
servebinary, any subsequent installs of packages that also create aservebinary would overwrite the first binary. This will not overwrite system binaries but only binaries put into the global node_modules directory.This behavior is still allowed in local installations and also through install scripts. This vulnerability bypasses a user using the --ignore-scripts install option.
Recommendation
Upgrade to version 6.13.4 or later.
References