CVE-2022-31127 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.1) vulnerability in next-auth. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for next-auth — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper handling of email input in next-auth
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-31127.
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-2022-31127 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% 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, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
next-authnpmDescription
Impact
An attacker can pass a compromised input to the e-mail signin endpoint that contains some malicious HTML, tricking the e-mail server to send it to the user, so they can perform a phishing attack. Eg.: [email protected], <a href="http://attacker.com">Before signing in, claim your money!</a>. This was previously sent to [email protected], and the content of the email containing a link to the attacker's site was rendered in the HTML. This has been remedied in the following releases, by simply not rendering that e-mail in the HTML, since it should be obvious to the receiver what e-mail they used:
next-auth v3 users before version 3.29.8 are impacted. (We recommend upgrading to v4, as v3 is considered unmaintained. See our migration guide)
next-auth v4 users before version 4.8.0 are impacted.
Patches
We've released patches for this vulnerability in:
- v3 -
3.29.8 - v4 -
4.9.0
You can do:
npm i next-auth@latest
# or
yarn add next-auth@latest
#
pnpm add next-auth@latest
(This will update to the latest v4 version, but you can change latest to 3 if you want to stay on v3. This is not recommended.)
Workarounds
If for some reason you cannot upgrade, the workaround requires you to sanitize the email parameter that is passed to sendVerificationRequest and rendered in the HTML. If you haven't created a custom sendVerificationRequest, you only need to upgrade. Otherwise, make sure to either exclude email from the HTML body or efficiently sanitize it. Check out https://next-auth.js.org/providers/email#customizing-emails
References
Related documentation:
- https://next-auth.js.org/providers/email#customizing-emails
- https://next-auth.js.org/getting-started/upgrade-v4
A test case has been added so this kind of issue will be checked before publishing. See: https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/blob/cd6ccfde898037290ae949d500ace8a378376cd8/packages/next-auth/tests/email.test.ts
For more information
If you have any concerns, we request responsible disclosure, outlined here: https://next-auth.js.org/security#reporting-a-vulnerability
Timeline
The issue was reported 2022 June 29th, a response was sent out to the reporter in less than 1 hour, and after identifying the issue a patch was published within 4 working days.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | next-auth | all versions | 3.29.8npm install next-auth@3.29.8 |
| 📦npm | next-auth | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.9.0 | 4.9.0npm install next-auth@4.9.0 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for next-auth, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update next-auth to 3.29.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-31127 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-31127 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-31127. 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-2022-31127 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-31127 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.