Summary
Strapi leaking sensitive user information by filtering on private fields
Strapi through 4.7.1 allows unauthenticated attackers to discover sensitive user details for Strapi administrators and API users.
Details
Strapi through 4.7.1 allows unauthenticated attackers to discover sensitive user details for Strapi administrators and API users. The unauthenticated attacker can filter users by columns that contain sensitive information and infer the values by the changes in the API responses. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability to hijack Strapi administrator accounts and gain unauthorized Strapi Super Administrator access by leaking the password reset token and changing the admin password. This can be exploited on all Strapi versions <=4.7.1.
IoC
The exploitation of CVE-2023-22894 is easily detectable, since the payload is within the GET parameters and are normally included in request logs. The following regex pattern will extract requests that are exploiting this vulnerability to leak user's email, password and password reset token columns.
/(\[|%5B)\s*(email|password|reset_password_token|resetPasswordToken)\s*(\]|%5D)/
You can search log files for this IoC by using the following grep command.
grep -iE '(\[|%5B)\s*(email|password|reset_password_token|resetPasswordToken)\s*(\]|%5D)' $PATH_TO_LOG_FILE
If the above regex pattern matches any lines in your log files, take extra precaution to look out for multiple requests that include password, reset_password_token or resetPasswordToken. This would indicate that an attacker has leaked the password hashes and reset tokens on your Strapi server and you need to immediately start an incident response!
All Strapi users below 4.8.0
Impact
CVE-2023-22894 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (4.8.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
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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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-22894? CVE-2023-22894 is a high-severity security vulnerability in @strapi/strapi (npm), affecting versions >= 3.2.1, < 4.8.0. It is fixed in 4.8.0.
- How severe is CVE-2023-22894? CVE-2023-22894 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of @strapi/strapi are affected by CVE-2023-22894? @strapi/strapi (npm) versions >= 3.2.1, < 4.8.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-22894? Yes. CVE-2023-22894 is fixed in 4.8.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-22894 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-22894 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-2023-22894 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-2023-22894? Upgrade
@strapi/strapito 4.8.0 or later.