Summary
Manifest Uses a One-Way Hash without a Salt
Manifest employs a weak password hashing implementation that uses SHA3 without a salt. This exposes user passwords to a higher risk of being cracked if an attacker gains access to the database. Without the use of a salt, identical passwords across multiple users will result in the same hash, making it easier for attackers to identify and exploit patterns, thereby accelerating the cracking process.
Details
Analysis of the application source code reveals that user passwords are hashed using the SHA3 algorithm without implementing a unique salt per user.
const newUser: AuthenticableEntity = entityRepository.create(signupUserDto)
newUser.password = SHA3(newUser.password).toString()
This approach results in deterministic password hashes, which can be identified by comparing the hashes for users with matching credentials.
PoC
- Create two users with the same password (it could be admin or any other authenticatable entity)
- Extract their password hashes from the database
- Verify that both hashes are identical, confirming the absence of unique salts
Impact
This is a cryptographic weakness vulnerability that affects all users of the system. The lack of a unique salt when hashing passwords reduces protection against database breaches, as attackers who gain access to the database can more efficiently crack user passwords. Since identical passwords result in identical hashes, attackers can use precomputed hash databases (e.g., Rainbow Tables) or offline brute-force attacks to reverse the hashes and obtain user passwords, increasing the risk of compromised accounts and further system exploitation.
CVE-2025-27408 has a CVSS score of 4.8 (Medium). 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 (4.9.2); 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-2025-27408? CVE-2025-27408 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in manifest (npm), affecting versions < 4.9.2. It is fixed in 4.9.2.
- How severe is CVE-2025-27408? CVE-2025-27408 has a CVSS score of 4.8 (Medium). 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 manifest are affected by CVE-2025-27408? manifest (npm) versions < 4.9.2 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-27408? Yes. CVE-2025-27408 is fixed in 4.9.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2025-27408 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-27408 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-2025-27408 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-2025-27408? Upgrade
manifestto 4.9.2 or later.