CVE-2026-45091: sealed-env: TOTP secret embedded in unseal token payload (enterprise mode)

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-05-12 · updated 2026-10-26
Weakness: CWE-200

Description

sealed-env is a cross-stack, zero-trust secret management library for Node.js and Java/Spring Boot. In sealed-env enterprise mode, versions 0.1.0-alpha.1 through 0.1.0-alpha.3 embedded the operator's literal TOTP secret in the JWS payload of every minted unseal token. JWS payload is base64-encoded JSON, NOT encrypted. Any party who could observe a minted token (CI build logs, container env dumps, kubectl describe pod, Sentry/Rollbar stack traces, log aggregators) could decode the payload and extract the TOTP secret in plaintext. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.1.0-alpha.4.

Affected products

davidalmeidac sealed-env: before 0.1.0-alpha.4

References

https://github.com/davidalmeidac/sealed-env/security/advisories/GHSA-x3r2-fj3r-g5mv

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