gatsby-transformer-remark vulnerable to unsanitized JavaScript code injection

Summary

Gatsby is a free and open source framework based on React that helps developers build websites and apps. The gatsby-transformer-remark plugin prior to versions 5.25.1 and 6.3.2 passes input through to the `gray-matter` npm package, which is vulnerable to JavaScript injection in its default configuration, unless input is sanitized. The vulnerability is present in gatsby-transformer-remark when passing input in data mode (querying MarkdownRemark nodes via GraphQL). Injected JavaScript executes in the context of the build server. To exploit this vulnerability untrusted/unsanitized input would need to be sourced by or added into a file processed by gatsby-transformer-remark. A patch has been introduced in `gatsby-transformer-remark@5.25.1` and `gatsby-transformer-remark@6.3.2` which mitigates the issue by disabling the `gray-matter` JavaScript Frontmatter engine. As a workaround, if an older version of `gatsby-transformer-remark` must be used, input passed into the plugin should be sanitized ahead of processing. It is encouraged for projects to upgrade to the latest major release branch for all Gatsby plugins to ensure the latest security updates and bug fixes are received in a timely manner.

Timeline

1. Jan 13, 2023, 6:05 PM UTCCVE published
2. Mar 11, 2025, 1:33 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

3. Mar 11, 2025, 1:34 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• gatsbyjs gatsby

  From 6.0.0 · fixed in 6.3.2; fixed in 5.25.1

• gatsby-transformer-remarknpm

  From 6.0.0 · fixed in 6.3.2

• gatsby-transformer-remarknpm

  fixed in 5.25.1

References 1