# CVE-2022-35925: Missing rate limit in Authentication in bookwyrm

> Missing rate limiting on authentication views allows brute-force attacks, potentially leading to account takeover in BookWyrm instances.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 2 Aug 2022
- **Updated:** 22 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jvp3-mqv8-5rjw

## What is CVE-2022-35925?

CVE-2022-35925 is a medium-severity vulnerability in bookwyrm-social bookwyrm, published on 2 Aug 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

BookWyrm is a social network for tracking reading. Versions prior to 0.4.5 were found to lack rate limiting on authentication views which allows brute-force attacks. This issue has been patched in version 0.4.5. Admins with existing instances will need to update their `nginx.conf` file that was created when the instance was set up. Users are advised advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may update their nginx.conf files with the changes manually.

Weakness: CWE-307 (Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts), CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-35925?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Joinbookwyrm Bookwyrm.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-35925?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-35925 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-35925 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-35925 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in bookwyrm-social bookwyrm

- [CVE-2022-2651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2651/): Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness in bookwyrm-social/bookwyrm (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-23644](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-23644/): Server-side request forgery in BookWyrm (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-35953](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35953/): URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect') in bookwyrm (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2022-31136](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31136/): Cross-site Scripting in BookWyrm (medium 6.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-35925 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-35925 is a medium-severity vulnerability in bookwyrm-social bookwyrm, published on 2 Aug 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-35925 exists.

Affected product: bookwyrm-social bookwyrm. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35925/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35925/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-35925
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-35925
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-35925

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35925/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.