Unauthenticated account takeover via identifier operator injection
Published Mar 12, 2026 · Updated Mar 12, 2026
Operator injection in Parse Server before 8.6.38 and 9.0.0 through 9.6.0-alpha.11 allows remote attackers to take over user accounts. The authentication-data identifier reaches a database lookup without a string-type check, so an object containing a query operator becomes a pattern match rather than an exact identifier comparison. Exploitation requires an account created by a provider that does not validate identifier format; anonymous authentication meets this condition and is enabled by default, and a match returns a valid victim session token.
Summary
What happened
Operator injection in Parse Server before 8.6.38 and 9.0.0 through 9.6.0-alpha.11 allows remote attackers to take over user accounts. The authentication-data identifier reaches a database lookup without a string-type check, so an object containing a query operator becomes a pattern match rather than an exact identifier comparison. Exploitation requires an account created by a provider that does not validate identifier format; anonymous authentication meets this condition and is enabled by default, and a match returns a valid victim session token.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-32248
- Published
- Mar 12, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 12, 2026
- Vendor
- Parse Platform
- Product
- Parse Server
- Classifications
- CWE-943, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 12, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 12, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 8.6.38
- Affected versionversion=>= 9.0.0, < 9.6.0-alpha.12
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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