CVE-2023-32689

Parse Server vulnerable to phishing attack vulnerability that involves uploading malicious HTML file

MEDIUM
6.5
CVSS Score
Published: May 30, 2023 at 05:27 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:59 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsParse ServerParse Server

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Severity
MEDIUM6.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.6%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Parse Server is an open source backend that can be deployed to any infrastructure that can run Node.js. Versions prior to 5.4.4 and 6.1.1 are vulnerable to a phishing attack vulnerability that involves a user uploading malicious files. A malicious user could upload an HTML file to Parse Server via its public API. That HTML file would then be accessible at the internet domain at which Parse Server is hosted. The URL of the the uploaded HTML could be shared for phishing attacks. The HTML page may seem legitimate because it is served under the internet domain where Parse Server is hosted, which may be the same as a company's official website domain. An additional security issue arises when the Parse JavaScript SDK is used. The SDK stores sessions in the internet browser's local storage, which usually restricts data access depending on the internet domain. A malicious HTML file could contain a script that retrieves the user's session token from local storage and then share it with the attacker. The fix included in versions 5.4.4 and 6.1.1 adds a new Parse Server option `fileUpload.fileExtensions` to restrict file upload on Parse Server by file extension. It is recommended to restrict file upload for HTML file extensions, which this fix disables by default. If an app requires upload of files with HTML file extensions, the option can be set to `['.*']` or another custom value to override the default.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 5.4.46.0.0 ≤ v < 6.1.1
Affected range stops below 5.4.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 6.1.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 5.4.4v < 6.1.1
Affected range stops below 5.4.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 6.1.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-434

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