CVE-2026-61534: yayson: Prototype pollution in Store/LegacyStore deserialization

Should you act?

Critical and remotely reachable

No known exploitation yet, but it is network-reachable without credentials. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• Not in CISA KEV, but CISA’s SSVC assessment records a public proof-of-concept, so attack code exists.
• EPSS 0.8%, percentile 57: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.8% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 57% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Remotely reachable with no login and no user interaction. If the vulnerable service is exposed to the internet, prioritize it.
• Only applies if your dependency tree includes yayson (npm) <= 4.2.0, fixed in 4.3.0. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

Yayson is a library for serializing and reading JSON API data in JavaScript. Prior to 4.3.0, Store and LegacyStore use attacker-controlled JSON:API type, id, and relationship names as keys in plain-object lookup tables in src/yayson/store.ts and src/yayson/legacy-store.ts. A document whose type is proto causes model-cache writes to modify Object.prototype, with the attacker controlling the polluted property name through id and its value through attributes. The malicious type can also be supplied by an included resource, and LegacyStore is reachable when a configured types mapping resolves to proto. Unsafe relationship names including proto, constructor, and prototype provide additional document-derived member paths. The resulting process-wide prototype pollution can cause denial of service and logic corruption; authorization bypass or code execution depends on suitable gadgets in the consuming application. This issue is fixed in version 4.3.0.

From the GitHub advisory

Summary Store/LegacyStore key internal lookup tables by the type, id, and relationship names from a JSON:API document. Because these were plain objects, a document with type: "proto" writes onto Object.prototype, polluting every object in the process.

Severity Suggested CVSS v3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H (8.1). The guaranteed impact is process-wide DoS / logic corruption; escalation to authorization bypass or RCE is dependent on gadgets in the consuming application.

Affected / Patched - Affected:

Details type is a string value, untouched by JSON.parse, and is used directly as an object key:

The attacker controls the polluted key (id) and value (the model, populated from attributes). Pollution persists for the process lifetime. The malicious type can also arrive via an included resource referenced by a relationship, bypassing any data.type allow-list. LegacyStore is additionally reachable when a configured types mapping resolves to "proto".

Weakness type: CWE-1321.

Product: yayson (npm) · Assigned by: GitHub_M · Published: 2026-09-14

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
• Attack complexity: low
• Privileges required: none (no login)
• User interaction: none
• Scope: unchanged

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation poc, automatable yes, technical impact partial.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.84% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 57.

Timeline

• 2026-09-11 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-325j-mg25-8q58 published (critical)
• 2026-09-14 — CVE record last updated
• 2026-09-14 — CVE record published by GitHub_M

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vulnerability records

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-325j-mg25-8q58 github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2026-61534 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2026-61534 nvd.nist.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. github.com github.com
2. github.com github.com
3. github.com github.com
4. github.com github.com

Critical npm advisories · Today’s Security Digest