Summary
Timing Attack in csrf-lite
Affected versions of csrf-lite are vulnerable to timing attacks as a result of testing CSRF tokens via a fail-early comparison instead of a constant-time comparison.
Timing attacks remove the exponential increase in entropy gained from increased secret length, by providing per-character feedback on the correctness of a guess via miniscule timing differences.
Under favorable network conditions, an attacker can exploit this to guess the secret in no more than (16*18)288 guesses, instead of the 16^18 guesses required were the timing attack not present.
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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Update to version 0.1.2 or later.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2016-10535? CVE-2016-10535 is a high-severity security vulnerability in csrf-lite (npm), affecting versions < 0.1.2. It is fixed in 0.1.2.
- Which versions of csrf-lite are affected by CVE-2016-10535? csrf-lite (npm) versions < 0.1.2 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2016-10535? Yes. CVE-2016-10535 is fixed in 0.1.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2016-10535 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2016-10535 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-2016-10535 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-2016-10535? Upgrade
csrf-liteto 0.1.2 or later.