diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix
index ccdd591cdb17..7d67ecdb3767 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/elinks/default.nix
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   enableGuile        ? false,                                         guile ? null
 , enablePython       ? false,                                         python ? null
 , enablePerl         ? (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform), perl ? null
-, enableSpidermonkey ? (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform), spidermonkey ? null
+, enableSpidermonkey ? (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform), spidermonkey_38 ? null
 }:
 
 assert enableGuile -> guile != null;
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableGuile guile
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython python
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePerl perl
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableSpidermonkey spidermonkey
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableSpidermonkey spidermonkey_38
     ;
-  
+
   nativeBuildInputs = [ autoconf automake gettext pkgconfig ];
 
   configureFlags = [
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableGuile        "--with-guile"
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePython       "--with-python"
     ++ stdenv.lib.optional enablePerl         "--with-perl"
-    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableSpidermonkey "--with-spidermonkey=${spidermonkey}"
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableSpidermonkey "--with-spidermonkey=${spidermonkey_38}"
     ;
-  
+
   preConfigure = ''
     patchShebangs ./autogen.sh
     ./autogen.sh
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/pyload/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/pyload/default.nix
index f173e56abb34..e81b8dc37ca5 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/pyload/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/pyload/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, fetchpatch, pythonPackages, gocr, unrar, rhino, spidermonkey }:
+{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, fetchpatch, pythonPackages, gocr, unrar, rhino, spidermonkey_38 }:
 
 let
   beautifulsoup = pythonPackages.callPackage ./beautifulsoup.nix {
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ in pythonPackages.buildPythonApplication rec {
     in [ configParserPatch setupPyPatch ];
 
   buildInputs = [
-    unrar rhino spidermonkey gocr pythonPackages.paver
+    unrar rhino spidermonkey_38 gocr pythonPackages.paver
   ];
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = with pythonPackages; [
diff --git a/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/38.nix b/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/38.nix
index d2aabfe64d9a..22ce5a0b387c 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/38.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/interpreters/spidermonkey/38.nix
@@ -67,5 +67,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
     maintainers = [ maintainers.abbradar ];
     platforms = platforms.unix;
+    knownVulnerabilities = [ "SpiderMonkey 38 is outdated and contains known security vulnerabilities." ]; # as per https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/SpiderMonkey/Releases/38
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/plowshare/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/plowshare/default.nix
index 1d3e8c6c33db..662710388d31 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/plowshare/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/plowshare/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, makeWrapper, curl, recode, spidermonkey }:
+{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, makeWrapper, curl, recode, spidermonkey_38 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     make PREFIX="$out" install
 
     for fn in plow{del,down,list,mod,probe,up}; do
-      wrapProgram "$out/bin/$fn" --prefix PATH : "${stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [ curl recode spidermonkey ]}"
+      wrapProgram "$out/bin/$fn" --prefix PATH : "${stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [ curl recode spidermonkey_38 ]}"
     done
   '';
 
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/text/jsawk/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/text/jsawk/default.nix
index 4f2ad403e365..51075c2ce174 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/text/jsawk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/text/jsawk/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, makeWrapper, spidermonkey }:
+{ stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, makeWrapper, spidermonkey_38 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   pname = "jsawk";
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
     mkdir -p $out/bin
     cp $src/jsawk $out/bin/
     wrapProgram $out/bin/jsawk \
-      --prefix PATH : "${spidermonkey}/bin"
+      --prefix PATH : "${spidermonkey_38}/bin"
   '';
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
index 3befe1e0bc39..267ef1a8fc53 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
@@ -659,6 +659,7 @@ mapAliases ({
   youtubeDL = youtube-dl;  # added 2014-10-26
   zdfmediathk = mediathekview; # added 2019-01-19
   gnome_user_docs = gnome-user-docs; # added 2019-11-20
+  spidermonkey = spidermonkey_68; # added 2020-09-30
 
   # TODO(ekleog): add ‘wasm’ alias to ‘ocamlPackages.wasm’ after 19.03
   # branch-off