GHSA-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc is a high-severity (CVSS 8.6) Improper Authentication vulnerability in parse-server. A fix is available for parse-server — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Authentication bypass vulnerability in Apple Game Center auth adapter
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 GHSA-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc.
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-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc 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
Impact
The certificate in Apple Game Center auth adapter not validated. As a result, authentication could potentially be bypassed by making a fake certificate accessible via certain Apple domains and providing the URL to that certificate in an authData object.
Patches
To prevent this, a new rootCertificateUrl property is introduced to the Parse Server Apple Game Center auth adapter which takes the URL to the root certificate of Apple's Game Center authentication certificate. If no value is set, the rootCertificateUrl property defaults to the URL of the current root certificate as of May 27, 2022.
Keep in mind that the root certificate can change at any time (expected to be announced by Apple) and that it is the developer's responsibility to keep the root certificate URL up-to-date when using the Parse Server Apple Game Center auth adapter.
Workarounds
None.
References
- https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/security/advisories/GHSA-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc
- https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=stttq465
- https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server
More information
- For questions or comments about this vulnerability visit our community forum or community chat
- Report other vulnerabilities at report.parseplatform.org
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | parse-server | all versions | 4.10.11npm install parse-server@4.10.11 |
| 📦npm | parse-server | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.2.2 | 5.2.2npm install parse-server@5.2.2 |
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 4.10.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc 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-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc. 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-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-rh9j-f5f8-rvgc across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.