CVE-2026-53518
Better Auth OAuth Provider: Race Condition in Authorization Code Exchange Enables Multi-Use Code Redemption
Blast Radius
@better-auth/oauth-provider📦better-authReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects npm packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Better Auth is an authentication and authorization library for TypeScript. From 1.6.0 until 1.6.11, the @better-auth/oauth-provider POST /oauth2/token endpoint for the authorization_code grant redeems a single-use authorization code through a non-atomic find-then-delete sequence, allowing two concurrent requests to pass the read step and mint independent access tokens, refresh tokens, and ID tokens; legacy /oauth2/token and /mcp/token paths in oidc-provider and mcp plugins share the same primitive. This issue is fixed in version 1.6.11.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | @better-auth/oauth-provider | ≥ 1.6.0&&< 1.6.11 | 1.6.11 |
| 📦npm | better-auth | all versions | 1.6.11 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for @better-auth/oauth-provider. 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 @better-auth/oauth-provider to 1.6.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-53518 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-2026-53518 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-2026-53518. 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-2026-53518 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-53518 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.