How severe is CVE-2023-42446?

CVE-2023-42446 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-42446?

CVE-2023-42446 affects the following packages: pow (Hex). Ecosystems affected: Hex.

How do I fix CVE-2023-42446?

Update pow to 1.0.34 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-42446 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-42446 in my Hex dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pow, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-42446 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

Is CVE-2023-42446 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2023-42446, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-42446?

CVE-2023-42446 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.5%, placing it in the 46th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-42446?

CVE-2023-42446 is classified as CWE-298 (CWE-298), CWE-672 (CWE-672). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-42446 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-42446 was published on September 18, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

💧

💧 Hex

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2023-42446 — pow

MEDIUMFix: pow-auth/pow#714

CVE-2023-42446 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-298 vulnerability in pow. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for pow — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Pow Mnesia cache doesn't invalidate all expired keys on startup

Also known asGHSA-3cjh-p6pw-jhv9

Published

Sep 18, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 8, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

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-2023-42446.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.5%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs46th percentile — riskier than 46% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

💧pow

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Hex packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Use of Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache is susceptible to session hijacking as expired keys are not being invalidated correctly on startup. A cache key may become expired when all Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache instances have been shut down for a period that is longer than the keys' remaining TTL and the expired key won't be invalidated on startups.

Workarounds

The expired keys, including all expired sessions, can be manually invalidated by running:

:mnesia.sync_transaction(fn ->
  Enum.each(:mnesia.dirty_select(Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache, [{{Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache, :_, :_}, [], [:"$_"]}]), fn {_, key,  {_value, expire}} ->
    ttl = expire - :os.system_time(:millisecond)
    if ttl < 0, do: :mnesia.delete({Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache, key})
  end)
end)

References

https://github.com/pow-auth/pow/commit/15dc525be03c466daa5d2119ca7acdec7b24ed17 https://github.com/pow-auth/pow/issues/713 https://github.com/pow-auth/pow/pull/714

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
💧Hex	`pow`	≥ 1.0.14&&< 1.0.34	1.0.34`mix deps.update pow`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

powpowauth

≥ 1.0.14 && < 1.0.34

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

Pow is a authentication and user management solution for Phoenix and Plu…

github.comNVDSep 2023

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pow, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update pow to 1.0.34 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-42446 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Use of `Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache` is susceptible to session hijacking as expired keys are not being invalidated correctly on startup. A cache key may become expired when all `Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache` instances have been shut down for a period that is longer than the keys' remaining TTL and the expired key won't be invalidated on startups. ### Workarounds The expired keys, including all expired sessions, can be manually invalidated by running: ```elixir :mnesia.sync_transaction(fn -> Enum.each(:mnesia.dirty_select(Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache, [{{Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache,