Improper access control in parse-server - CVE-2020-5251
Published: March 3, 2020 / Updated: May 23, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU132204
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4: 8.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2020-5251
CWE-ID: CWE-284
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to disclose sensitive information.
The vulnerability exists due to improper access control in the users endpoint when processing NoSQL queries containing regex operators on sessionToken values. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted request to disclose sensitive information.
The issue can be exploited without user interaction by using regex matching to identify valid accounts.
Affected software
parse-server
How to mitigate CVE-2020-5251
Install security update from vendor's website.
parse-server - update to 4.1.0