CVE-2025-61787

Deno · Deno Multiple Products

A high-severity vulnerability has been discovered in multiple Deno products, which could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected server.

Executive summary

A high-severity vulnerability has been discovered in multiple Deno products, which could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected server. Successful exploitation could lead to a complete compromise of the application, enabling attackers to steal sensitive data, disrupt services, or gain a foothold into the broader network environment. Due to the critical nature of this flaw, immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Vulnerability

This vulnerability is a remote code execution (RCE) flaw within Deno's native HTTP server module. The flaw stems from improper handling of specially crafted HTTP requests, specifically within the header parsing logic. An unauthenticated attacker can send a malicious request containing a malformed header, which triggers a buffer overflow, allowing the attacker to overwrite memory and execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the Deno process.

Business impact

This vulnerability is rated as High severity with a CVSS score of 8.1. Exploitation could have a significant negative impact on the business. A successful attack could lead to a complete system compromise, resulting in the theft of sensitive corporate data, customer personally identifiable information (PII), or application source code. Furthermore, an attacker could disrupt critical services, causing operational downtime and financial loss, or use the compromised server as a pivot point to launch further attacks against the internal network. The potential for data breaches and service disruption poses a substantial risk of reputational damage and potential regulatory fines.

Remediation

Immediate Action: Apply the security updates provided by the vendor across all affected Deno instances immediately. After patching, closely monitor application and server logs for any signs of attempted exploitation that may have occurred prior to remediation. Review access logs for unusual or malformed requests targeting web-facing applications.

Proactive Monitoring: Implement enhanced monitoring of network traffic to and from servers running Deno. Specifically, look for anomalous HTTP requests with unusually long or malformed headers. Utilize Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) or security information and event management (SIEM) systems to alert on suspicious process creation or unexpected network connections originating from Deno processes.

Compensating Controls: If immediate patching is not feasible, implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules designed to inspect and block malformed HTTP headers that could trigger this vulnerability. Additionally, ensure the Deno runtime is executed with the lowest possible user privileges (principle of least privilege) and is contained within a segmented network zone to limit the potential impact of a successful compromise.

Exploitation status

Public Exploit Available: false

Analyst recommendation

Given the high CVSS score of 8.1 and the potential for complete system compromise via remote code execution, this vulnerability poses a critical risk to the organization. We strongly recommend that all system owners identify affected Deno instances and apply the vendor-provided security patches as a top priority. Although this CVE is not currently listed on the CISA KEV catalog, its critical impact makes it a prime candidate for future inclusion. Proactive remediation is the most effective strategy to prevent potential exploitation.