CVE-2026-32248: Parse Server: Account takeover via operator injection in authentication data identifier

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-03-12 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-943

Description

Parse Server is an open source backend that can be deployed to any infrastructure that can run Node.js. Prior to 9.6.0-alpha.12 and 8.6.38, an unauthenticated attacker can take over any user account that was created with an authentication provider that does not validate the format of the user identifier (e.g. anonymous authentication). By sending a crafted login request, the attacker can cause the server to perform a pattern-matching query instead of an exact-match lookup, allowing the attacker to match an existing user and obtain a valid session token for that user's account. Both MongoDB and PostgreSQL database backends are affected. Any Parse Server deployment that allows anonymous authentication (enabled by default) is vulnerable. This vulnerability is fixed in 9.6.0-alpha.12 and 8.6.38.

Affected products

parse-community parse-server: before 8.6.38; from 9.0.0 before 9.6.0; 9.6.0-alpha1, 9.6.0-alpha10, 9.6.0-alpha11, 9.6.0-alpha2, 9.6.0-alpha3, 9.6.0-alpha4 (+5) — fixed in 8.6.38, 9.6.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: parse-community parse-server 8.6.38, 9.6.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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