# CVE-2023-41885: Piccolo's current `BaseUser.login` implementation is vulnerable to time based user enumeration

> Attackers can enumerate valid user accounts via timing differences in login, facilitating password spray attacks and potential account takeover.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Sep 2023
- **Updated:** 26 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h7cm-mrvq-wcfr, PYSEC-2023-173

## What is CVE-2023-41885?

CVE-2023-41885 is a medium-severity vulnerability in piccolo-orm piccolo, published on 12 Sep 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Piccolo is an ORM and query builder which supports asyncio. In versions 0.120.0 and prior, the implementation of `BaseUser.login` leaks enough information to a malicious user such that they would be able to successfully generate a list of valid users on the platform. As Piccolo on its own does not also enforce strong passwords, these lists of valid accounts are likely to be used in a password spray attack with the outcome being attempted takeover of user accounts on the platform. The impact of this vulnerability is minor as it requires chaining with other attack vectors in order to gain more then simply a list of valid users on the underlying platform. The likelihood of this vulnerability is possible as it requires minimal skills to pull off, especially given the underlying login functionality for Piccolo based sites is open source. This issue has been patched in version 0.121.0.

Weakness: CWE-203 (Observable Discrepancy), CWE-204 (Observable Response Discrepancy)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-41885?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including piccolo. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `piccolo` | PyPI | All versions | 0.121.0 |
| `piccolo` | PyPI | All versions | 0.121.0 |
| `piccolo` | PyPI | All versions | 0.121.0 |

Products: Piccolo-Orm Piccolo.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-41885?

Upgrade piccolo to 0.121.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2023-41885 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-41885 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in piccolo-orm piccolo

- [CVE-2023-47128](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-47128/): piccolo SQL Injection via named transaction savepoints (critical 9.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-41885 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-41885 is a medium-severity vulnerability in piccolo-orm piccolo, published on 12 Sep 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-41885 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- piccolo (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 0.121.0
- piccolo (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 0.121.0
- piccolo (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 0.121.0

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-2023-41885/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41885/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-41885
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-41885
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-41885

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41885/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.