GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.9) Improper Authentication vulnerability in parse-server. A fix is available for parse-server — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Parse Server has an OAuth login vulnerability
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 GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv.
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
GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv 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 377,636 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
Impact
The 3rd party authentication handling of Parse Server allows the authentication credentials of some specific authentication providers to be used across multiple Parse Server apps. For example, if a user signed up using the same authentication provider in two unrelated Parse Server apps, the credentials stored by one app can be used to authenticate the same user in the other app. Note that this only affects Parse Server apps that specifically use an affected 3rd party authentication provider for user authentication, for example by setting the Parse Server option auth to configure a Parse Server authentication adapter. See the 3rd party authentication docs for more information on which authentication providers are affected.
Patches
The fix of this vulnerability requires to upgrade Parse Server to a version that includes the bug fix, as well as upgrade the client app to send a secure payload, which is different from the previous insecure payload. To accommodate a gradual rollout of the client app update, affected Parse Server authentication adapters now offer an enableInsecureAuth option to accept both insecure and secure payloads from clients apps. See the 3rd party authentication docs for how to migrate from insecure to secure authentication.
Workarounds
None.
References
- GitHub security advisory: https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/security/advisories/GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv
- Parse Server documentation for 3rd party authentication providers: https://docs.parseplatform.org/parse-server/guide/#oauth-and-3rd-party-authentication
- Bug fix in Parse Server 7: https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/pull/9668
- Bug fix in Parse Server 8: https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/pull/9667
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | parse-server | all versions | 7.5.2npm install parse-server@7.5.2 |
| 📦npm | parse-server | ≥ 8.0.0&&< 8.0.2 | 8.0.2npm install parse-server@8.0.2 |
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 7.5.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv 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 GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-837q-jhwx-cmpv across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.