CVE-2019-18818 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-640 vulnerability in strapi. 8 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2019-18818 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Strapi allows unauthenticated attacker to reset admin password without valid reset token
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2019-18818 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 368,770 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, a proxy for how much of the ecosystem is exposed.
strapinpmDescription
strapi before 3.0.0-beta.17.5 mishandles password resets within packages/strapi-admin/controllers/Auth.js and packages/strapi-plugin-users-permissions/controllers/Auth.js.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | strapi | all versions | 3.0.0-beta.17.5 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Strapi 3.0.0-beta - Set Password (Unauthenticated)
by David Anglada · Aug 30, 2021
Strapi CMS 3.0.0-beta.17.4 - Set Password (Unauthenticated) (Metasploit)
by WackyH4cker · Feb 8, 2022
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for strapi. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update strapi to 3.0.0-beta.17.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-18818 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2019-18818 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2019-18818. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-18818 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2019-18818 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.