JSON5 is an extension to the popular JSON file format that aims to be easier to write and maintain by hand (e.g. for config files). The `parse` method of the JSON5 library before and including versions 1.0.1 and 2.2.1 does not restrict parsing of keys named `__proto__` allowing specially crafted strings to pollute the prototype of the resulting object. This vulnerability pollutes the prototype of the object returned by `JSON5.parse` and not the global Object prototype which is the commonly understood definition of Prototype Pollution. However polluting the prototype of a single object can have significant security impact for an application if the object is later used in trusted operations. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to set arbitrary and unexpected keys on the object returned from `JSON5.parse`. The actual impact will depend on how applications utilize the returned object and how they filter unwanted keys but could include denial of service cross-site scripting elevation
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18 Feb 2026 10:23Current
7High risk
Vulners AI Score7
CVSS 3.17.1 - 8.8
EPSS0.09304