diff --git a/dev-packages/cli/package.json b/dev-packages/cli/package.json
index 4fb2bad9f240b..94f0fb43a48ea 100644
--- a/dev-packages/cli/package.json
+++ b/dev-packages/cli/package.json
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
     "@types/requestretry": "^1.12.3",
     "@types/tar": "^4.0.3",
     "chai": "^4.2.0",
-    "colors": "^1.4.0",
+    "chalk": "4.0.0",
     "decompress": "^4.2.1",
     "https-proxy-agent": "^5.0.0",
     "mocha": "^7.0.0",
diff --git a/dev-packages/cli/src/download-plugins.ts b/dev-packages/cli/src/download-plugins.ts
index 8a7364fabcd27..00ac4268c7b35 100644
--- a/dev-packages/cli/src/download-plugins.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/cli/src/download-plugins.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ declare global {
 }
 
 import { OVSXClient } from '@theia/ovsx-client/lib/ovsx-client';
-import { green, red, yellow } from 'colors/safe';
+import * as chalk from 'chalk';
 import * as decompress from 'decompress';
 import { createWriteStream, promises as fs } from 'fs';
 import { HttpsProxyAgent } from 'https-proxy-agent';
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ export default async function downloadPlugins(options: DownloadPluginsOptions =
     await fs.mkdir(pluginsDir, { recursive: true });
 
     if (!pck.theiaPlugins) {
-        console.log(red('error: missing mandatory \'theiaPlugins\' property.'));
+        console.log(chalk.red('error: missing mandatory \'theiaPlugins\' property.'));
         return;
     }
     try {
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ async function downloadPluginAsync(failures: string[], plugin: string, pluginUrl
     } else if (pluginUrl.endsWith('theia')) {
         fileExt = '.theia'; // theia plugins.
     } else {
-        failures.push(red(`error: '${plugin}' has an unsupported file type: '${pluginUrl}'`));
+        failures.push(chalk.red(`error: '${plugin}' has an unsupported file type: '${pluginUrl}'`));
         return;
     }
     const targetPath = path.resolve(pluginsDir, `${plugin}${packed === true ? fileExt : ''}`);
@@ -206,15 +206,15 @@ async function downloadPluginAsync(failures: string[], plugin: string, pluginUrl
         }
     }
     if (lastError) {
-        failures.push(red(`x ${plugin}: failed to download, last error:\n ${lastError}`));
+        failures.push(chalk.red(`x ${plugin}: failed to download, last error:\n ${lastError}`));
         return;
     }
     if (typeof response === 'undefined') {
-        failures.push(red(`x ${plugin}: failed to download (unknown reason)`));
+        failures.push(chalk.red(`x ${plugin}: failed to download (unknown reason)`));
         return;
     }
     if (response.status !== 200) {
-        failures.push(red(`x ${plugin}: failed to download with: ${response.status} ${response.statusText}`));
+        failures.push(chalk.red(`x ${plugin}: failed to download with: ${response.status} ${response.statusText}`));
         return;
     }
 
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ async function downloadPluginAsync(failures: string[], plugin: string, pluginUrl
         await decompress(tempFile.path, targetPath);
     }
 
-    console.warn(green(`+ ${plugin}${version ? `@${version}` : ''}: downloaded successfully ${attempts > 1 ? `(after ${attempts} attempts)` : ''}`));
+    console.warn(chalk.green(`+ ${plugin}${version ? `@${version}` : ''}: downloaded successfully ${attempts > 1 ? `(after ${attempts} attempts)` : ''}`));
 }
 
 /**
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ async function collectExtensionPacks(pluginDir: string, excludedIds: Set<string>
         if (Array.isArray(extensionPack)) {
             extensionPackPaths.set(packageJsonPath, extensionPack.filter(id => {
                 if (excludedIds.has(id)) {
-                    console.log(yellow(`'${id}' referenced by '${json.name}' (ext pack) is excluded because of 'theiaPluginsExcludeIds'`));
+                    console.log(chalk.yellow(`'${id}' referenced by '${json.name}' (ext pack) is excluded because of 'theiaPluginsExcludeIds'`));
                     return false; // remove
                 }
                 return true; // keep
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ async function collectPluginDependencies(pluginDir: string, excludedIds: Set<str
         if (Array.isArray(extensionDependencies)) {
             for (const dependency of extensionDependencies) {
                 if (excludedIds.has(dependency)) {
-                    console.log(yellow(`'${dependency}' referenced by '${json.name}' is excluded because of 'theiaPluginsExcludeIds'`));
+                    console.log(chalk.yellow(`'${dependency}' referenced by '${json.name}' is excluded because of 'theiaPluginsExcludeIds'`));
                 } else {
                     dependencyIds.push(dependency);
                 }
diff --git a/doc/Migration.md b/doc/Migration.md
index 357419979c57a..75557b3a1c4c4 100644
--- a/doc/Migration.md
+++ b/doc/Migration.md
@@ -7,6 +7,18 @@ Please see the latest version (`master`) for the most up-to-date information. Pl
 
 ## Guide
 
+### General
+
+Due to a [colors.js](https://github.com/Marak/colors.js) issue, a [resolution](https://classic.yarnpkg.com/lang/en/docs/selective-version-resolutions/) may be necessary for your application in order to workaround the problem:
+
+For example:
+
+```json
+"resolutions": {
+    "**/colors": "<=1.4.0"
+}
+```
+
 ### v1.21.0
 
 #### Frontend Source Maps
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ce26f5a29302d..31f20b04a5cf2 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin-tslint": "^4.8.1",
     "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^4.8.1",
     "chai-string": "^1.4.0",
-    "colors": "^1.4.0",
+    "chalk": "4.0.0",
     "concurrently": "^3.5.0",
     "debug": "^4.3.2",
     "electron-mocha": "^8.2.0",
diff --git a/packages/process/src/common/shell-command-builder.slow-spec.ts b/packages/process/src/common/shell-command-builder.slow-spec.ts
index 51feb24174706..8cbaf9849957f 100644
--- a/packages/process/src/common/shell-command-builder.slow-spec.ts
+++ b/packages/process/src/common/shell-command-builder.slow-spec.ts
@@ -21,14 +21,8 @@
 import { spawn, execSync, SpawnOptions, ChildProcess, spawnSync } from 'child_process';
 import { Readable } from 'stream';
 import { join } from 'path';
-
 import { ShellCommandBuilder, CommandLineOptions, ProcessInfo } from './shell-command-builder';
-
-import {
-    bgRed, bgWhite, bgYellow,
-    black, green, magenta, red, white, yellow,
-    bold,
-} from 'colors/safe'; // tslint:disable-line:no-implicit-dependencies
+import * as chalk from 'chalk'; // tslint:disable-line:no-implicit-dependencies
 
 export interface TestProcessInfo extends ProcessInfo {
     shell: ChildProcess
@@ -67,9 +61,9 @@ const spawnOptions: SpawnOptions = {
 
 // Formatting options, used with `scanLines` for debugging.
 const stdoutFormat = (prefix: string) => (data: string) =>
-    `${bold(yellow(`${prefix} STDOUT:`))} ${bgYellow(black(data))}`;
+    `${chalk.bold(chalk.yellow(`${prefix} STDOUT:`))} ${chalk.bgYellow(chalk.black(data))}`;
 const stderrFormat = (prefix: string) => (data: string) =>
-    `${bold(red(`${prefix} STDERR:`))} ${bgRed(white(data))}`;
+    `${chalk.bold(chalk.red(`${prefix} STDERR:`))} ${chalk.bgRed(chalk.white(data))}`;
 
 // Default error scanner
 const errorScanner = (handle: ScanLineHandle<void>) => {
@@ -352,7 +346,7 @@ async function testCommandLine(
     // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
 ): Promise<any> {
     const commandLine = shellCommandBuilder.buildCommand(processInfo, options);
-    debug(`${bold(white(`${context.name} STDIN:`))} ${bgWhite(black(displayWhitespaces(commandLine)))}`);
+    debug(`${chalk.bold(chalk.white(`${context.name} STDIN:`))} ${chalk.bgWhite(chalk.black(displayWhitespaces(commandLine)))}`);
     processInfo.shell.stdin!.write(commandLine + context.submit);
     return Promise.race(firstOf);
 }
@@ -366,9 +360,9 @@ function createShell(
     shellArguments: string[] = []
 ): TestProcessInfo {
     const shell = spawn(shellExecutable, shellArguments, spawnOptions);
-    debug(magenta(`${bold(`${context.name} SPAWN:`)} ${shellExecutable} ${shellArguments.join(' ')}`));
-    shell.on('close', (code, signal) => debug(magenta(
-        `${bold(`${context.name} CLOSE:`)} ${shellExecutable} code(${code}) signal(${signal})`
+    debug(chalk.magenta(`${chalk.bold(`${context.name} SPAWN:`)} ${shellExecutable} ${shellArguments.join(' ')}`));
+    shell.on('close', (code, signal) => debug(chalk.magenta(
+        `${chalk.bold(`${context.name} CLOSE:`)} ${shellExecutable} code(${code}) signal(${signal})`
     )));
     return {
         executable: shellExecutable,
@@ -409,21 +403,21 @@ async function scanLines<T = void>(
                             if (!context.resolved) {
                                 context.resolve();
                                 resolve(value);
-                                debug(bold(green(`${context.name} SCANLINES RESOLVED`)));
+                                debug(chalk.bold(chalk.green(`${context.name} SCANLINES RESOLVED`)));
                             }
                         },
                         reject: (reason?: Error) => {
                             if (!context.resolved) {
                                 context.resolve();
                                 reject(reason);
-                                debug(bold(red(`${context.name} SCANLINES REJECTED`)));
+                                debug(chalk.bold(chalk.red(`${context.name} SCANLINES REJECTED`)));
                             }
                         },
                         line,
                         text,
                     });
                 } catch (error) {
-                    debug(bold(red(`${context.name} SCANLINES THROWED`)));
+                    debug(chalk.bold(chalk.red(`${context.name} SCANLINES THROWED`)));
                     context.resolve();
                     reject(error);
                     break;
@@ -485,7 +479,7 @@ class TestCaseContext {
     finalize(): void {
         if (!this.resolved) {
             this.resolve();
-            debug(red(`${bold(`${this.name} CONTEXT:`)} context wasn't resolved when finalizing, resolving!`));
+            debug(chalk.red(`${chalk.bold(`${this.name} CONTEXT:`)} context wasn't resolved when finalizing, resolving!`));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index e842289ba1266..f0fc0fbc2e146 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3604,6 +3604,14 @@ chainsaw@~0.1.0:
   dependencies:
     traverse ">=0.3.0 <0.4"
 
+chalk@4.0.0:
+  version "4.0.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/chalk/-/chalk-4.0.0.tgz#6e98081ed2d17faab615eb52ac66ec1fe6209e72"
+  integrity sha512-N9oWFcegS0sFr9oh1oz2d7Npos6vNoWW9HvtCg5N1KRFpUhaAhvTv5Y58g880fZaEYSNm3qDz8SU1UrGvp+n7A==
+  dependencies:
+    ansi-styles "^4.1.0"
+    supports-color "^7.1.0"
+
 chalk@^2.0.0, chalk@^2.0.1, chalk@^2.3.0, chalk@^2.4.1, chalk@^2.4.2:
   version "2.4.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/chalk/-/chalk-2.4.2.tgz#cd42541677a54333cf541a49108c1432b44c9424"