Summary
API Admin Auth Weakness in tomato
Versions of tomato prior to 0.0.6 are affected by a somewhat complex authentication bypass vulnerability in the admin service when only a single access key is configured on the server. The vulnerability allows an attacker to guess the password for the admin service, no matter how complex that password is, in less than 200 requests.
Details
The tomato API has an admin service that is enabled by setting up an access_key in the config options. This access_key is intended to protect the API admin from unauthorized access.
Tomato verifies the access_key by checking to see if the server access_key incorporates the user provided value at any location. This allows an attacker to provide a single character as an access_key, and so long as the server key contains at least one instance of that character it will be considered a valid key.
Proof of Concept
This is the snippet of code that does the comparison to authorize requests.
if (access_key && config.master.api.access_key.indexOf(access_key) !== -1) {
For an access_key that is set to anything that includes the letter 'a' the following request would be authorized.
$ curl -X POST "http://localhost:8081/api/exec" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d @test -H "access-key: a"
{
"cmd": "ls",
"path": ".",
"stdout": "app.js\nconfig.js\nlog\nnode_modules\nserver.js\n",
"stderr": ""
}
Impact
The application does not adequately verify the identity of a user, device, or process before granting access. Typical impact: unauthorized access to functions or data reserved for authenticated parties.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
Already deployed Kodem?
See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
Update to version 0.0.6 or later.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2013-7379? CVE-2013-7379 is a critical-severity improper authentication vulnerability in tomato (npm), affecting versions <= 0.0.5. It is fixed in 0.0.6. The application does not adequately verify the identity of a user, device, or process before granting access.
- Which versions of tomato are affected by CVE-2013-7379? tomato (npm) versions <= 0.0.5 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2013-7379? Yes. CVE-2013-7379 is fixed in 0.0.6. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2013-7379 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2013-7379 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2013-7379 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2013-7379? Upgrade
tomatoto 0.0.6 or later.