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Fencer Intel
high 8.6

CVE-2021-32820 in the critical feed json

File disclosure in Express Handlebars

published 5y ago modified 2mo ago also BIT-handlebars-2021-32820 , EUVD-2022-0992 , GHSA-fr76-2wp8-fp92

cvss
8.6
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
15.7%
EPSS 15.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 96%
public exploits
0
none known, plus a Nuclei check

Summary

Express-handlebars is a Handlebars view engine for Express. Express-handlebars 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 .handlebars appended to them. For complete details refer to the referenced GHSL-2021-018 report. Notes in documentation have been added to help users avoid this potential information exposure vulnerability.

Patch / fix

  • npm express-handlebars 5.3.1
  • bitnami handlebars 5.3.3

Is CVE-2021-32820 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.

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Exploit prediction

15.74% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 96% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • Nuclei template Express-handlebars - Local File Inclusion nuclei detection template
  • github.com https://github.com/express-handlebars/express-handlebars/pull/163 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • securitylab.github.com https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2021-018-express-handlebars/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
GitHub 3.1 8.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 3.1 8.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 5.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
OSV 3.1 8.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm express-handlebars
<5.3.1
5.3.1
bitnami handlebars
<5.3.3
5.3.3

Affected products

  • express-handlebars express-handlebars

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.