Executive brief
Mongoose is a widely-used Node.js library for database modeling and interaction. A prototype pollution flaw allows attackers to inject and manipulate object properties on the application level, potentially corrupting application state, causing denial of service, or enabling unauthorized data access. The vulnerability affects multiple major versions and requires network access to exploit.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a prototype pollution flaw (CWE-1321) in Mongoose prior to versions 7.3.3, 6.11.3, and 5.13.20. The root cause lies in unsafe property assignment during initialization that does not properly sanitize input for prototype keywords. An attacker on the network can send specially crafted input containing prototype-polluting payloads via the affected application, with no authentication required. Successful exploitation allows modification of the Object prototype, affecting all objects in the application and potentially leading to denial of service or information disclosure. Patches are available in versions 7.3.3, 6.11.3, and 5.13.20.
Affected products
- Automattic Mongoose before 5.13.20, 6.0.0 before 6.11.3, 7.0.0 before 7.3.3
Timeline
- 2023-07-17: disclosed: Vulnerability published
- 2023-07-17: patched: Patches released in versions 5.13.20, 6.11.3, and 7.3.3