CVE-2023-22474 Parse Server is vulnerable to authentication bypass via spoofing
Attackers can bypass masterKeyIps restrictions by spoofing the x-forwarded-for header when Parse Server is not configured to trust proxies.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-22474?
CVE-2023-22474 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Parseplatform Parse-Server, published on 3 Feb 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Parse Server is an open source backend that can be deployed to any infrastructure that can run Node.js. Parse Server uses the request header `x-forwarded-for` to determine the client IP address. If Parse Server doesn't run behind a proxy server, then a client can set this header and Parse Server will trust the value of the header. The incorrect client IP address will be used by various features in Parse Server. This allows to circumvent the security mechanism of the Parse Server option `masterKeyIps` by setting an allowed IP address as the `x-forwarded-for` header value. This issue has been patched in version 5.4.1. The mechanism to determine the client IP address has been rewritten. The correct IP address determination now requires to set the Parse Server option `trustProxy`.
Weakness: CWE-290
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-22474?
3 open source packages ship an affected version, including parse-server and parse. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
parse-server npm | All versions | 5.4.1 |
parse-server npm | All versions | 5.4.1 |
parse Bitnami | All versions | 5.4.1 |
Products include Parseplatform Parse-Server.
How do I fix CVE-2023-22474?
Upgrade parse-server to 5.4.1 or later.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2023-22474 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22474 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Parseplatform Parse-Server
- CVE-2026-30966 Parse Server role escalation and CLP bypass via direct `_Join` table write
- CVE-2024-27298 Parse Server literalizeRegexPart SQL Injection
- CVE-2022-24760 Command Injection in Parse server
- CVE-2026-30965 Parse Server session token exfiltration via `redirectClassNameForKey` query parameter
- CVE-2023-36475 Parse Server vulnerable to remote code execution via MongoDB BSON parser through prototype pollution
Sources
Also known as BIT-parse-2023-22474, GHSA-vm5r-c87r-pf6x.