CVE-2022-36079 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.6) Information Exposure vulnerability in parse-server. A fix is available for parse-server — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Parse Server vulnerable to brute force guessing of user sensitive data via search patterns
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-36079.
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-2022-36079 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 377,166 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.
parse-servernpmDescription
Parse Server is an open source backend that can be deployed to any infrastructure that can run Node.js. Internal fields (keys used internally by Parse Server, prefixed by _) and protected fields (user defined) can be used as query constraints. Internal and protected fields are removed by Parse Server and are only returned to the client using a valid master key. However, using query constraints, these fields can be guessed by enumerating until Parse Server, prior to versions 4.10.14 or 5.2.5, returns a response object. The patch available in versions 4.10.14 and 5.2.5 requires the maser key to use internal and protected fields as query constraints. As a workaround, implement a Parse Cloud Trigger beforeFind and manually remove the query constraints.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | parse-server | all versions | 4.10.14npm install parse-server@4.10.14 |
| 📦npm | parse-server | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.2.5 | 5.2.5npm install parse-server@5.2.5 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for parse-server, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update parse-server to 4.10.14 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-36079 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-2022-36079 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-36079. 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-2022-36079 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-36079 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.