Skip to content
Fencer Intel
medium 5.4

CVE-2021-32817 json

File disclosure in express-hbs

published 5y ago modified 2mo ago also BIT-handlebars-2021-32817 , EUVD-2021-1190 , GHSA-rwxp-hwwf-653v

cvss
5.4
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.3%
EPSS 1.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 69%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

express-hbs is an Express handlebars template engine. express-hbs mixes pure template data with engine configuration options through the Express render API. More specifically, the layout parameter may trigger file disclosure vulnerabilities in downstream applications. This potential vulnerability is somewhat restricted in that only files with existing extentions (i.e. file.extension) can be included, files that lack an extension will have .hbs appended to them. For complete details refer to the referenced GHSL-2021-019 report. Notes in documentation have been added to help users of express-hbs avoid this potential information exposure vulnerability.

Patch / fix

  • bitnami handlebars 5.3.3

Is CVE-2021-32817 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

Exploit prediction

1.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 69% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • securitylab.github.com https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2021-019-express-hbs/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 5.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
GitHub 3.1 5.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
NVD 3.1 6.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
OSV 3.1 6.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm express-hbs
<=2.4.0
 no fix listed
bitnami handlebars
<5.3.3
5.3.3

Affected products

  • TryGhost express-hbs

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
  • CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.