# CVE-2025-70949: @perfood/couch-auth observable timing discrepancy

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-70949-perfood-couch-auth-observable-timing-discrepancy  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-03-05. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2025-70949 · Severity: low · CVSS 3.1 · Published 2026-03-05

@perfood/couch-auth is an authentication library used to protect access to CouchDB instances. An observable timing discrepancy in the authentication logic allows attackers to use side-channel attacks to guess sensitive tokens, potentially bypassing authentication and gaining unauthorized access to protected databases.

Technologies: [@perfood/couch-auth (npm)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/perfood-couch-auth). Vendors: [npm](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/npm).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2025-70949 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2025-70949 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2025-70949?** Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 5 March 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** @perfood/couch-auth (npm) SEMVER:introduced=0,last_affected=0.26.0.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2025-70949?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2025-70949 attacked?** It is attacked over the network.

**Am I affected by CVE-2025-70949?** Check whether you run @perfood/couch-auth (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The vulnerability is a timing side-channel attack (CWE-208) in @perfood/couch-auth v0.26.0 that allows attackers to infer sensitive authentication tokens through observable differences in response times. The authentication logic does not use constant-time comparison functions when validating tokens, making it possible for a remote attacker over a network to measure timing variations and progressively guess valid tokens. No user interaction or authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker can leverage these timing differences to bypass authentication mechanisms and gain unauthorized access. A patch should implement constant-time token comparison to mitigate this issue.

## Affected products

- perfood @perfood/couch-auth 0.26.0 and earlier

## Identifiers

- CVE-2025-70949
- GHSA-mjqr-5c55-g77h

## Timeline

- 2026-03-05: disclosed
- 2026-03-05: advisory

## References

- [https://gist.github.com/0xHunterr/38aab644874ca9f4646524c5b01cfe5e](https://gist.github.com/0xHunterr/38aab644874ca9f4646524c5b01cfe5e)

## Related threats

- [@perfood/couch-auth host header injection in mailer](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-70948-perfood-couch-auth-host-header-injection-in-mailer)
- [@perfood/couch-auth session token and password exposure in memory](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-60794-perfood-couch-auth-session-token-and-password-exposure-in-memory)
- [CouchAuth server-side template injection in email functionality](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2024-57177-couchauth-server-side-template-injection-in-email-functionality)
- [CouchAuth host header injection leaks password reset token](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2023-39655-couchauth-host-header-injection-leaks-password-reset-token)