Summary
Private Data Disclosure in express-restify-mongoose
Affected versions of express-restify-mongoose are susceptible to an information leakage vulnerability which may allow an attacker to access fields on a model even if those fields are marked as private.
Proof of Concept
If you have a user model that you want to protect, such as the following User model:
const User = mongoose.model('User', new mongoose.Schema({
name: String,
password: String,
}));
You would normally do something such as:
restify.serve(router, User, {
private: ['password'], // Set the password part of User as private, so outside people can't read it
})
This would hide the password field from people that send your application a GET /User and GET /User/some-user-id request.
A malicious user can go to your application and send a request for GET /User?distinct=password and get all the passwords for all the users in the database, despite the field being set to private. This could be used for other private data, if the malicious user knew what was set as private for specific routes.
Impact
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.
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Version 2.x: Update to version 2.5.0 or later.
Version 3.x: Update to version 3.1.0 or later.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2016-10533? CVE-2016-10533 is a high-severity security vulnerability in express-restify-mongoose (npm), affecting versions <= 2.4.2. It is fixed in 2.5.0, 3.1.0.
- Which versions of express-restify-mongoose are affected by CVE-2016-10533? express-restify-mongoose (npm) versions <= 2.4.2 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2016-10533? Yes. CVE-2016-10533 is fixed in 2.5.0, 3.1.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2016-10533 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2016-10533 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-2016-10533 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-2016-10533?
- Upgrade
express-restify-mongooseto 2.5.0 or later - Upgrade
express-restify-mongooseto 3.1.0 or later
- Upgrade