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Prototype Pollution Detection Made Real:
Jed Security’s Active Validation
in Action

Maor Angel, Security Researcher

February 27, 2025

In modern cybersecurity, it is not enough to simply identify vulnerabilities; security teams must validate attack paths and assess real-world exploitability instead of dealing with endless alerts.

Jed Security’s Active Validation AI engine takes vulnerability detection to the next level by integrating directly with client environments to map potential attack paths and replicate vulnerabilities and create exploits in an emulated environment, ensuring an accurate understanding of exposure.

In this blog, we will explore how Jed Security’s Active Validation Engine helps customers detect real, exploitable Prototype Pollution attacks. We’ll break down the risks of this vulnerability, demonstrate how our technology validates potential exploits, and show how organizations can use these insights to strengthen their security posture.

Active Validation and Exploit Simulation

Detecting security vulnerabilities is only half the battle—understanding whether they are truly exploitable is where security teams gain real value. Many security tools flood teams with alerts, but without validation, these findings often lack the context needed to prioritize and respond effectively.

At Jed Security, our Active Validation Engine takes vulnerability detection a step further by simulating real-world exploitation scenarios in a safe and controlled manner. Rather than relying on theoretical risk scores, our system actively interacts with the vulnerable application to determine whether an identified Prototype Pollution flaw can actually be weaponized.

How It Works

✅ Detection: The system first identifies potential Prototype Pollution vulnerabilities across your attack surface.
✅ Validation: Instead of assuming risk, the engine attempts to exploit the vulnerability in a non-destructive, read-only manner to confirm if it leads to a security breach.
✅ Prioritization: By confirming exploitability, security teams can prioritize threats that pose real risks rather than chasing false positives.

With Jed Security’s Active Validation Engine, security teams can confidently separate low-risk theoretical threats from high-priority exploitable vulnerabilities, ensuring that remediation efforts focus on the risks that matter most.

Real World Example

Prototype pollution is a type of JavaScript vulnerability that allows attackers to manipulate an application’s prototype chain, altering the behavior of objects throughout the application. In JavaScript, most objects inherit properties and methods from a prototype, making it a fundamental aspect of the language. However, if an attacker can modify the prototype—such as adding, deleting, or changing properties—this can lead to unintended consequences, including privilege escalation, bypassing security controls, and even remote code execution (RCE) in certain scenarios.

Our research on CVE-2024-21512 is a prime example of this workflow in action. Our security researchers were able to validate the exploitability of this vulnerability through controlled simulations, identifying key weaknesses that could be leveraged by attackers. This specific vulnerability allows for prototype pollution in the MySQL2 library, leading to potential remote code execution (RCE) when exploited under certain conditions. Attackers can manipulate JavaScript objects in ways that impact backend logic, making this type of vulnerability a significant risk for web applications reliant on improperly sanitized database queries.

Attack Path Simulation

The following diagram illustrates the attack path identified by Jed’s Active Validation process. It demonstrates how an attacker could exploit CVE-2024-21512 to manipulate backend logic and achieve remote code execution.

Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Exploit Code

Jed was also able to auto-generate the below PoC Exploit Code for the customer which showcases how prototype pollution in MySQL2 can be exploited, highlighting the ability to inject malicious properties into JavaScript objects and impact application security.

Why Jed Security Stands Out

Unlike traditional security approaches that focus solely on vulnerability detection, Jed Security combines detection, validation, and attack path simulation.

This enables organizations to:

• Gain clear visibility into how vulnerabilities can be exploited in their specific environment.
• Receive high-fidelity alerts that eliminate false positives and focus on real risks.
• Proactively defend against attacks by understanding attacker behavior and attack feasibility.

Conclusion

Jed Security’s Active Validation model transforms how organizations understand and address security risks. By identifying and testing attack paths, we ensure clients receive a complete picture of their exposure. Our specialized engine and integration capabilities enable a proactive, risk-focused approach that is unmatched in the industry. Organizations leveraging Jed Security benefit from an intelligent, automated validation process that ensures only the most critical threats receive attention.

Jed Security is a cloud-native CTEM platform that helps organizations efficiently identify, prioritize, and mitigate external threats, while streamlining operations and eliminating wasted time on irrelevant issues.

Reduce noise to threats. Reduce threats to action.
Sign up to see a demo.

Maor Angel, Security Researcher

February 27, 2025