kurwov is a fast, dependency-free library for creating Markov Chains. An unsafe sanitization of dataset contents on the MarkovData#getNext method used in Markov#generate and Markov#choose allows a maliciously crafted string on the dataset to throw and stop the function from running properly. If a string contains a forbidden substring (i.e. __proto__) followed by a space character, the code will access a special property in MarkovData#finalData by removing the last character of the string, bypassing the dataset sanitization (as it is supposed to be already sanitized before this function is called). Any dataset can be contaminated with the substring making it unable to properly generate anything in some cases. This issue has been addressed in version 3.2.5 and all users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.
It is often convenient to serialize objects for communication or to save them for later use. However, deserialized data or code can often be modified without using the provided accessor functions if it does not use cryptography to protect itself. Furthermore, any cryptography would still be client-side security – which is a dangerous security assumption. Data that is untrusted can not be trusted to be well-formed. When developers place no restrictions on “gadget chains,” or series of instances and method invocations that can self-execute during the deserialization process (i.e., before the object is returned to the caller), it is sometimes possible for attackers to leverage them to perform unauthorized actions, like generating a shell.