Detections
Analytics

SCA: security update for handlebars (GHSA-xhpv-hc6g-r9c6)

high Tenable Cloud Security Plugin ID 439339

Description

There are packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability referenced in the following CVE:

 - Handlebars provides the power necessary to let users build semantic templates. In versions 4.0.0 through
 4.7.8, a crafted object placed in the template context can bypass all conditional guards in
 `resolvePartial()` and cause `invokePartial()` to return `undefined`. The Handlebars runtime then treats
 the unresolved partial as a source that needs to be compiled, passing the crafted object to
 `env.compile()`. Because the object is a valid Handlebars AST containing injected code, the generated
 JavaScript executes arbitrary commands on the server. The attack requires the adversary to control a value
 that can be returned by a dynamic partial lookup. Version 4.7.9 fixes the issue. Some workarounds are
 available. First, use the runtime-only build (`require('handlebars/runtime')`). Without `compile()`, the
 fallback compilation path in `invokePartial` is unreachable. Second, sanitize context data before
 rendering: Ensure no value in the context is a non-primitive object that could be passed to a dynamic
 partial. Third, avoid dynamic partial lookups (`{{> (lookup ...)}}`) when context data is user-controlled.
 (CVE-2026-33940)

Solution

Update the handlebars library and its related packages to version 4.7.9 or later.

See Also

https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-xhpv-hc6g-r9c6

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 439339

Version: Revision 1.5

Type: Local

Family: SCA Checks

Published: 3/27/2026

Updated: 7/2/2026

Supported Sensors: Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.9

Percentile: 96.92

Vendor

Vendor Severity: High

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.6

Temporal Score: 6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-33940

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.1

Temporal Score: 7.3

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 3/27/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 3/27/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-33940