When multi-factor authentication (MFA) via TOTP is enabled for a user account, Parse Server generates two single-use recovery codes. These codes are intended as a fallback when the user cannot provide a TOTP token. However, recovery codes are not consumed after use, allowing the same recovery code to be used an unlimited number of times. This defeats the single-use design of recovery codes and weakens the security of MFA-protected accounts. …
The _GraphQLConfig and _Audience internal classes can be read, modified, and deleted via the generic /classes/_GraphQLConfig and /classes/_Audience REST API routes without master key authentication. This bypasses the master key enforcement that exists on the dedicated /graphql-config and /push_audiences endpoints. An attacker can read, modify and delete GraphQL configuration and push audience data.
The email verification endpoint (/verificationEmailRequest) returns distinct error responses depending on whether an email address belongs to an existing user, is already verified, or does not exist. An attacker can send requests with different email addresses and observe the error codes to determine which email addresses are registered in the application. This is a user enumeration vulnerability that affects any Parse Server deployment with email verification enabled (verifyUserEmails: true).
An attacker can upload a file with a file extension or content type that is not blocked by the default configuration of the Parse Server fileUpload.fileExtensions option. The file can contain malicious code, for example JavaScript in an SVG or XHTML file. When the file is accessed via its URL, the browser renders the file and executes the malicious code in the context of the Parse Server domain. This is …
A stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability allows any authenticated user to upload an SVG file containing JavaScript. The file is served inline with Content-Type: image/svg+xml and without protective headers, causing the browser to execute embedded scripts in the Parse Server origin. This can be exploited to steal session tokens from localStorage and achieve account takeover. The default fileExtensions option blocks HTML file extensions but does not block SVG, which is …
A SQL injection vulnerability exists in the PostgreSQL storage adapter when processing Increment operations on nested object fields using dot notation (e.g., stats.counter). The sub-key name is interpolated directly into SQL string literals without escaping. An attacker who can send write requests to the Parse Server REST API can inject arbitrary SQL via a crafted sub-key name containing single quotes, potentially executing commands or reading data from the database, bypassing …
A SQL injection vulnerability exists in the PostgreSQL storage adapter when processing Increment operations on nested object fields using dot notation (e.g., stats.counter). The amount value is interpolated directly into the SQL query without parameterization or type validation. An attacker who can send write requests to the Parse Server REST API can inject arbitrary SQL subqueries to read any data from the database, bypassing CLPs and ACLs. MongoDB deployments are …
A vulnerability in Parse Server's query handling allows an authenticated or unauthenticated attacker to exfiltrate session tokens of other users by exploiting the redirectClassNameForKey query parameter. Exfiltrated session tokens can be used to take over user accounts. The vulnerability requires the attacker to be able to create or update an object with a new relation field, which depends on the Class-Level Permissions of at least one class.
The LDAP authentication adapter is vulnerable to LDAP injection. User-supplied input (authData.id) is interpolated directly into LDAP Distinguished Names (DN) and group search filters without escaping special characters. This allows an attacker with valid LDAP credentials to manipulate the bind DN structure and to bypass group membership checks. This enables privilege escalation from any authenticated LDAP user to a member of any restricted group. The vulnerability affects Parse Server deployments …
The OAuth2 authentication adapter, when configured without the useridField option, only verifies that a token is active via the provider's token introspection endpoint, but does not verify that the token belongs to the user identified by authData.id. An attacker with any valid OAuth2 token from the same provider can authenticate as any other user. This affects any Parse Server deployment that uses the generic OAuth2 authentication adapter (configured with oauth2: …
The Keycloak authentication adapter does not validate the azp (authorized party) claim of Keycloak access tokens against the configured client-id. A valid access token issued by the same Keycloak realm for a different client application can be used to authenticate as any user on the Parse Server that uses the Keycloak adapter. This enables cross-application account takeover in multi-client Keycloak realms. All Parse Server deployments that use the Keycloak authentication …
Parse Server's internal tables, which store Relation field mappings such as role memberships, can be directly accessed via the REST API or GraphQL API by any client using only the application key. No master key is required. An attacker can create, read, update, or delete records in any internal relationship table. Exploiting this allows the attacker to inject themselves into any Parse Role, gaining all permissions associated with that role, …
Parse Server's rate limiting middleware is applied at the Express middleware layer, but the batch request endpoint (/batch) processes sub-requests internally by routing them directly through the Promise router, bypassing Express middleware including rate limiting. An attacker can bundle multiple requests targeting a rate-limited endpoint into a single batch request to circumvent the configured rate limit. Any Parse Server deployment that relies on the built-in rate limiting feature is affected.
The validation for protected fields only checks top-level query keys. By wrapping a query constraint on a protected field inside a logical operator, the check is bypassed entirely. This allows any authenticated user to query on protected fields to extract field values. All Parse Server deployments have default protected fields and are vulnerable.
The protectedFields class-level permission (CLP) can be bypassed using dot-notation in query WHERE clauses and sort parameters. An attacker can use dot-notation to query or sort by sub-fields of a protected field, enabling a binary oracle attack to enumerate protected field values. This affects both MongoDB and PostgreSQL deployments.
A NoSQL injection vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to inject MongoDB query operators via the token field in the password reset and email verification resend endpoints. The token value is passed to database queries without type validation and can be used to extract password reset and email verification tokens. Any Parse Server deployment using MongoDB with email verification or password reset enabled is affected. When emailVerifyTokenReuseIfValid is configured, the email …
Class-level permissions (CLP) are not enforced for LiveQuery subscriptions. An unauthenticated or unauthorized client can subscribe to any LiveQuery-enabled class and receive real-time events for all objects, regardless of CLP restrictions. All Parse Server deployments that use LiveQuery with class-level permissions are affected. Data intended to be restricted by CLP is leaked to unauthorized subscribers in real time.
An unauthenticated attacker can exhaust Parse Server resources (CPU, memory, database connections) through crafted queries that exploit the lack of complexity limits in the REST and GraphQL APIs. All Parse Server deployments using the REST or GraphQL API are affected.
An attacker can use a dot-notation field name in combination with the sort query parameter to inject SQL into the PostgreSQL database through an improper escaping of sub-field values in dot-notation queries. The vulnerability may also affect queries that use dot-notation field names with the distinct and where query parameters. This vulnerability only affects deployments using a PostgreSQL database.
A malicious client can subscribe to a LiveQuery with a crafted $regex pattern that causes catastrophic backtracking, blocking the Node.js event loop. This makes the entire Parse Server unresponsive, affecting all clients. Any Parse Server deployment with LiveQuery enabled is affected. The attacker only needs the application ID and JavaScript key, both of which are public in client-side apps. This only affects LiveQuery subscription matching, which evaluates regex in JavaScript …
The requestKeywordDenylist security control can be bypassed by placing any nested object or array before a prohibited keyword in the request payload. This is caused by a logic bug that stops scanning sibling keys after encountering the first nested value. Any custom requestKeywordDenylist entries configured by the developer are equally by-passable using the same technique. All Parse Server deployments are affected. The requestKeywordDenylist is enabled by default.
An unauthenticated attacker can crash the Parse Server process by calling a Cloud Function endpoint with a prototype property name as the function name. The server recurses infinitely, causing a call stack size error that terminates the process. Other prototype property names bypass Cloud Function dispatch validation and return HTTP 200 responses, even though no such Cloud Functions are defined. The same applies to dot-notation traversal. All Parse Server deployments …
The Google, Apple, and Facebook authentication adapters use JWT verification to validate identity tokens. When the adapter's audience configuration option is not set (clientId for Google/Apple, appIds for Facebook), JWT verification silently skips audience claim validation. This allows an attacker to use a validly signed JWT issued for a different application to authenticate as any user on the target Parse Server. For Google and Apple, the vulnerability is exploitable when …
When graphQLPublicIntrospection is disabled, __type queries nested inside inline fragments (e.g. … on Query { __type(name:"User") { name } }) bypass the introspection control, allowing unauthenticated users to perform type reconnaissance. __schema introspection is not affected.
The file metadata endpoint (GET /files/:appId/metadata/:filename) does not enforce beforeFind / afterFind file triggers. When these triggers are used as access-control gates, the metadata endpoint bypasses them entirely, allowing unauthorized access to file metadata. This affects any deployment that relies on Parse.Cloud.beforeFind(Parse.File, …) to restrict file access. Only file metadata (user-defined key-value pairs set via addMetadata) is exposed; file content remains protected.
The PagesRouter static file serving route is vulnerable to a path traversal attack that allows unauthenticated reading of files outside the configured pagesPath directory. The boundary check uses a string prefix comparison without enforcing a directory separator boundary. An attacker can use path traversal sequences to access files in sibling directories whose names share the same prefix as the pages directory (e.g. pages-secret starts with pages). This affects any Parse …
The readOnlyMasterKey can be used to create and delete files via the Files API (POST /files/:filename, DELETE /files/:filename). This bypasses the read-only restriction which violates the access scope of the readOnlyMasterKey. Any Parse Server deployment that uses readOnlyMasterKey and exposes the Files API is affected. An attacker with access to the readOnlyMasterKey can upload arbitrary files or delete existing files.
The readOnlyMasterKey can call POST /loginAs to obtain a valid session token for any user. This allows a read-only credential to impersonate arbitrary users with full read and write access to their data. Any Parse Server deployment that uses readOnlyMasterKey is affected.
A malformed $regex query parameter (e.g. [abc) causes the database to return a structured error object that is passed unsanitized through the API response. This leaks database internals such as error messages, error codes, code names, cluster timestamps, and topology details. The vulnerability is exploitable by any client that can send query requests, depending on the deployment's permission configuration.
Parse Server's readOnlyMasterKey option allows access with master-level read privileges but is documented to deny all write operations. However, some endpoints incorrectly accept the readOnlyMasterKey for mutating operations. This allows a caller who only holds the readOnlyMasterKey to create, modify, and delete Cloud Hooks and to start Cloud Jobs, which can be used for data exfiltration. Any Parse Server deployment that uses the readOnlyMasterKey option is affected. Note than an …
An unauthenticated attacker can forge a Google authentication token with alg: "none" to log in as any user linked to a Google account, without knowing their credentials. All deployments with Google authentication enabled are affected.