CVE-2022-36045: Account takeover via cryptographically weak PRNG in NodeBB Forum

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2022-08-31 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-330

Description

NodeBB Forum Software is powered by Node.js and supports either Redis, MongoDB, or a PostgreSQL database. It utilizes web sockets for instant interactions and real-time notifications. `utils.generateUUID`, a helper function available in essentially all versions of NodeBB (as far back as v1.0.1 and potentially earlier) used a cryptographically insecure Pseudo-random number generator (`Math.random()`), which meant that a specially crafted script combined with multiple invocations of the password reset functionality could enable an attacker to correctly calculate the reset code for an account they do not have access to. This vulnerability impacts all installations of NodeBB. The vulnerability allows for an attacker to take over any account without the involvement of the victim, and as such, the remediation should be applied immediately (either via NodeBB upgrade or cherry-pick of the specific changeset. The vulnerability has been patched in version 2.x and 1.19.x. There is no known workaround, but the patch sets listed above will fully patch the vulnerability.

Affected products

NodeBB: before 1.19.8; 2.0.0 — fixed in 1.19.8

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: NodeBB 1.19.8. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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