# Soketi denial of service via malicious colors.js dependency

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/soketi-denial-of-service-via-malicious-colors-js-dependency-607da661  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2022-01-12. Updated: 2026-05-14  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

Severity: info · CVSS 9.8 · Published 2022-01-12

Soketi, a high-performance WebSockets server, was affected by a malicious update in one of its underlying software dependencies. This update causes the server to output infinite loops of garbled text, leading to an immediate crash and denial of service. Organizations using the NPM-based installation are at risk of complete service outages, while Docker-based installations are generally unaffected.

Technologies: [@soketi/soketi (npm)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/soketi-soketi), [Soketi](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/soketi). Vendors: [npm](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/npm), [Soketi](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/soketi).

## Quick answers

**Is This vulnerability exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of This vulnerability being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is This vulnerability?** Informational severity, with a CVSS score of 9.8, published 12 January 2022.

**Which products and versions are affected?** @soketi/soketi (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=0.26.1; Soketi < 0.26.1.

**Is there a fix for This vulnerability?** Yes. @soketi/soketi (npm): upgrade to 0.26.1 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is This vulnerability attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected?** Check whether you run @soketi/soketi (npm) or Soketi at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## How to fix

- @soketi/soketi (npm): upgrade to 0.26.1 or later

  ```sh
  npm install @soketi/soketi@0.26.1
  ```


## Technical details

The vulnerability stems from a supply chain attack on the 'colors.js' library, a dependency used by the Soketi WebSockets server. A malicious update to the dependency introduced an infinite loop that generates 'Zalgo' text (corrupted-looking Unicode characters) to the console, which exhausts system resources and crashes the Node.js process. This results in a complete Denial of Service (DoS) for the server. The issue affects users who installed or updated Soketi via NPM; Docker users were largely protected due to dependency bundling at build time. The issue is resolved in Soketi version 0.26.1 by pinning or updating dependencies to safe versions.

## Affected products

- soketi soketi < 0.26.1

## Timeline

- 2022-01-10: advisory: Initial advisory published by maintainers
- 2022-01-10: patched: Version 0.26.1 released to address the dependency issue
- 2022-01-12: disclosed: Public disclosure via GitHub Advisory Database

## References

- [https://github.com/soketi/soketi/security/advisories/GHSA-2w8g-m5j8-7m87](https://github.com/soketi/soketi/security/advisories/GHSA-2w8g-m5j8-7m87)

## Related threats

- [Soketi sandbox escape via vm2](https://junglewise.ai/threats/soketi-sandbox-escape-via-vm2-ca5f83ea)
- [soketi denial of service via empty POST request](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2022-21667-soketi-denial-of-service-via-empty-post-request)