Path traversal / URL injection via unsanitised lng/ns/projectId/version in i18next-locize-backend

published 2026-04-22 6 mo ago modified 2026-10-26 13 d ago also GHSA-mgcp-mfp8-3q45 , EUVD-2026-28795

cvss: 6.5; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.2%; EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 13%
public exploits: 0; none known

i18next-locize-backend is a simple i18next backend for locize.com which can be used in Node.js, in the browser and for Deno. Prior to version 9.0.2, i18next-locize-backend interpolates lng, ns, projectId, and version directly into the configured loadPath / privatePath / addPath / updatePath / getLanguagesPath URL templates with no path-component validation and no encoding. When an application exposes any of these values to user-controlled input (?lng= / ?ns= query parameters via i18next-browser-languagedetector, cookies, request headers, or a URL-derived projectId), a crafted value can change the structure of the outgoing request URL. Affected call sites in lib/index.js (pre-patch): the interpolate() helper is used at the five URL-build sites — _readAny/read (line 415 for private, 426 for public), getLanguages (lines 271 and 296), and writePage (lines 616 and 622) for the missing-key and update POST paths. The helper interpolate in lib/utils.js substitutes raw values with no encoding. This issue has been patched in version 9.0.2.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1 links 2

npm i18next-locize-backend 9.0.2

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 6 mo ago (2026-05-08)

Exploit prediction

0.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 13% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
GitHub	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
npm	i18next-locize-backend	<9.0.2	9.0.2

Affected products

locize i18next-locize-backend

Classification

Weakness

CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory
CWE-74 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary