Headline
GHSA-7r7x-4c4q-c4qf: Missing proper state, nonce and PKCE checks for OAuth authentication
Impact
next-auth
applications using OAuth provider versions before v4.20.1
are affected.
A bad actor who can spy on the victim’s network or able to social engineer the victim to click a manipulated login link could intercept and tamper with the authorization URL to log in as the victim, bypassing the CSRF protection.
As an example, an attack can happen in the following scenario.
TL;DR: The attacker steals the victim’s authenticated callback by intercepting and tampering with the authorization URL created by
next-auth
.
The victim attempts to log in to the
next-auth
site. For example https://next-auth-example.vercel.app/next-auth
sets thechecks
cookies according to how the OAuth provider is configured. In this case,state
andpkce
are set by default for the Google Provider. <img width="1971" alt="Screen Shot 2023-03-03 at 09 54 26" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/31528554/222619750-a2062bb8-99eb-4985-a75c-d75acd3da67e.png">The attacker intercepts the returned authorization URL, strips away the OAuth check (nonce, state, pkce), and returns the URL without the check to the victim’s browser. For example: From
https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth/oauthchooseaccount?client_id=client_id&scope=openid%20email%20profile&response_type=code&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fnext-auth-example.vercel.app%2Fapi%2Fauth%2Fcallback%2Fgoogle&state=state&code_challenge=code_challenge&code_challenge_method=S256&service=lso&o2v=2&flowName=GeneralOAuthFlow
tohttps://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth/oauthchooseaccount?client_id=client_id&scope=openid%20email%20profile&response_type=code&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fnext-auth-example.vercel.app%2Fapi%2Fauth%2Fcallback%2Fgoogle&service=lso&o2v=2&flowName=GeneralOAuthFlow
. Notice the parametersstate
,code_challenge
andcode_verifier
are removed from the victim’s address bar.The victim attempts to log in using their OAuth account.
The Authorization Server logs the victim in and calls back to the
next-auth
api/auth/callback/:providerId
endpoint. 5.1. The attacker intercepts and logs this callback URL for later use. 5.2.next-auth
checks the callback call from OAuth Authorization Server (doesn’t have checks) and compares the checks with the cookies set (has checks) at step 2. This check will fail, resulting in the victim isn’t logged in. However, at this step, the Authorization Server has already accepted the victim’s request to log in and generated/sent acode
in the URL.The attacker now has an authorization URL with the
code
that the AS will exchange for validaccess_token
/id_token
and can log in as the victim automatically. They can open a new browser window and paste in the URL logged at step 5.1 and log in as the victim.
Patches
We patched the vulnerability in next-auth
v4.20.1
To upgrade, run one of the following:
npm i next-auth@latest
yarn add next-auth@latest
pnpm add next-auth@latest
Workarounds
Upgrading to latest
is the recommended way to fix this issue. However, using Advanced Initialization, developers can manually check the callback request for state
, pkce
, and nonce
against the provider configuration, and abort the sign-in process if there is a mismatch. Check out the source code for help.
References
- GitHub Advisory Database
- GitHub Reviewed
- CVE-2023-27490
Missing proper state, nonce and PKCE checks for OAuth authentication
High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Mar 9, 2023 in nextauthjs/next-auth • Updated Mar 13, 2023
Package
npm next-auth (npm)
Affected versions
< 4.20.1
Impact
next-auth applications using OAuth provider versions before v4.20.1 are affected.
A bad actor who can spy on the victim’s network or able to social engineer the victim to click a manipulated login link could intercept and tamper with the authorization URL to log in as the victim, bypassing the CSRF protection.
As an example, an attack can happen in the following scenario.
TL;DR: The attacker steals the victim’s authenticated callback by intercepting and tampering with the authorization URL created by next-auth.
The victim attempts to log in to the next-auth site. For example https://next-auth-example.vercel.app/
next-auth sets the checks cookies according to how the OAuth provider is configured. In this case, state and pkce are set by default for the Google Provider.
The attacker intercepts the returned authorization URL, strips away the OAuth check (nonce, state, pkce), and returns the URL without the check to the victim’s browser. For example:
From
https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth/oauthchooseaccount?client_id=client_id&scope=openid%20email%20profile&response_type=code&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fnext-auth-example.vercel.app%2Fapi%2Fauth%2Fcallback%2Fgoogle&state=state&code_challenge=code_challenge&code_challenge_method=S256&service=lso&o2v=2&flowName=GeneralOAuthFlow
to
https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth/oauthchooseaccount?client_id=client_id&scope=openid%20email%20profile&response_type=code&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fnext-auth-example.vercel.app%2Fapi%2Fauth%2Fcallback%2Fgoogle&service=lso&o2v=2&flowName=GeneralOAuthFlow.
Notice the parameters state, code_challenge and code_verifier are removed from the victim’s address bar.The victim attempts to log in using their OAuth account.
The Authorization Server logs the victim in and calls back to the next-auth api/auth/callback/:providerIdendpoint.
5.1. The attacker intercepts and logs this callback URL for later use.
5.2. next-auth checks the callback call from OAuth Authorization Server (doesn’t have checks) and compares the checks with the cookies set (has checks) at step 2. This check will fail, resulting in the victim isn’t logged in. However, at this step, the Authorization Server has already accepted the victim’s request to log in and generated/sent a code in the URL.The attacker now has an authorization URL with the code that the AS will exchange for valid access_token/id_token and can log in as the victim automatically. They can open a new browser window and paste in the URL logged at step 5.1 and log in as the victim.
Patches
We patched the vulnerability in next-auth v4.20.1
To upgrade, run one of the following:
npm i next-auth@latest
yarn add next-auth@latest
pnpm add next-auth@latest
Workarounds
Upgrading to latest is the recommended way to fix this issue. However, using Advanced Initialization, developers can manually check the callback request for state, pkce, and nonce against the provider configuration, and abort the sign-in process if there is a mismatch. Check out the source code for help.
References
- CSRF
- PKCE vs nonce
- OAuth provider options
- checks provider config
References
- GHSA-7r7x-4c4q-c4qf
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-27490
- https://authjs.dev/reference/core/providers#checks
- https://danielfett.de/2020/05/16/pkce-vs-nonce-equivalent-or-not/
- https://github.com/nextauthjs/next-auth/compare/[email protected]…[email protected]#diff-cf9257195d0cb6a835ae4ff1fc73fe2cac0bab847efb0832c1f551209a972b47R55
- https://next-auth.js.org/configuration/initialization#advanced-initialization
- https://next-auth.js.org/configuration/providers/oauth
- https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6749#section-10.12
Published by the National Vulnerability Database
Mar 9, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database
Mar 13, 2023
Last updated
Mar 13, 2023
Related news
NextAuth.js is an open source authentication solution for Next.js applications. `next-auth` applications using OAuth provider versions before `v4.20.1` have been found to be subject to an authentication vulnerability. A bad actor who can read traffic on the victim's network or who is able to social engineer the victim to click a manipulated login link could intercept and tamper with the authorization URL to **log in as the victim**, bypassing the CSRF protection. This is due to a partial failure during a compromised OAuth session where a session code is erroneously generated. This issue has been addressed in version 4.20.1. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may using Advanced Initialization, manually check the callback request for state, pkce, and nonce against the provider configuration to prevent this issue. See the linked GHSA for details.