CVE-2023-40021
Timing Attack Reveals CSRF Tokens in oppia
Oppia is an online learning platform. When comparing a received CSRF token against the expected token, Oppia uses the string equality operator (==), which is not safe against timing attacks. By repeatedly submitting invalid tokens, an attacker can brute-force the expected CSRF token character by character. Once they have recovered the token, they can then submit a forged request on behalf of a logged-in user and execute privileged actions on that user's behalf. In particular the function to validate received CSRF tokens is at oppia.core.controllers.base.CsrfTokenManager.is_csrf_token_valid. An attacker who can lure a logged-in Oppia user to a malicious website can perform any change on Oppia that the user is authorized to do, including changing profile information; creating, deleting, and changing explorations; etc. Note that the attacker cannot change a user's login credentials. An attack would need to complete within 1 second because every second, the time used in computing the token changes. This issue has been addressed in commit b89bf80837 which has been included in release 3.3.2-hotfix-2. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
5.3
Timing Attack Reveals CSRF Tokens in oppia
Oppia is an online learning platform. When comparing a received CSRF token against the expected token, Oppia uses the string equality operator (==), which is not safe against timing attacks. By repeatedly submitting invalid tokens, an attacker can brute-force the expected CSRF token character by character. Once they have recovered the token, they can then submit a forged request on behalf of a logged-in user and execute privileged actions on that user's behalf. In particular the function to validate received CSRF tokens is at oppia.core.controllers.base.CsrfTokenManager.is_csrf_token_valid. An attacker who can lure a logged-in Oppia user to a malicious website can perform any change on Oppia that the user is authorized to do, including changing profile information; creating, deleting, and changing explorations; etc. Note that the attacker cannot change a user's login credentials. An attack would need to complete within 1 second because every second, the time used in computing the token changes. This issue has been addressed in commit b89bf80837 which has been included in release 3.3.2-hotfix-2. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40021- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-203, CWE-208
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-44640
5.3
Oppia is an online learning platform. When comparing a received CSRF token against the expected token, Oppia uses the string equality operator (==), which is not safe against timing attacks. By repeatedly submitting invalid tokens, an attacker can brute-force the expected CSRF token character by character. Once they have recovered the token, they can then submit a forged request on behalf of a logged-in user and execute privileged actions on that user's behalf. In particular the function to validate received CSRF tokens is at oppia.core.controllers.base.CsrfTokenManager.is_csrf_token_valid. An attacker who can lure a logged-in Oppia user to a malicious website can perform any change on Oppia that the user is authorized to do, including changing profile information; creating, deleting, and changing explorations; etc. Note that the attacker cannot change a user's login credentials. An attack would need to complete within 1 second because every second, the time used in computing the token changes. This issue has been addressed in commit b89bf80837 which has been included in release 3.3.2-hotfix-2. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
EUVD-2023-44640- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
NVD
5.3
Oppia is an online learning platform. When comparing a received CSRF token against the expected token, Oppia uses the string equality operator (==), which is not safe against timing attacks. By repeatedly submitting invalid tokens, an attacker can brute-force the expected CSRF token character by character. Once they have recovered the token, they can then submit a forged request on behalf of a logged-in user and execute privileged actions on that user's behalf. In particular the function to validate received CSRF tokens is at oppia.core.controllers.base.CsrfTokenManager.is_csrf_token_valid. An attacker who can lure a logged-in Oppia user to a malicious website can perform any change on Oppia that the user is authorized to do, including changing profile information; creating, deleting, and changing explorations; etc. Note that the attacker cannot change a user's login credentials. An attack would need to complete within 1 second because every second, the time used in computing the token changes. This issue has been addressed in commit b89bf80837 which has been included in release 3.3.2-hotfix-2. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40021- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-203, CWE-208
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
5.3
Timing Attack Reveals CSRF Tokens in oppia
Oppia is an online learning platform. When comparing a received CSRF token against the expected token, Oppia uses the string equality operator (==), which is not safe against timing attacks. By repeatedly submitting invalid tokens, an attacker can brute-force the expected CSRF token character by character. Once they have recovered the token, they can then submit a forged request on behalf of a logged-in user and execute privileged actions on that user's behalf. In particular the function to validate received CSRF tokens is at oppia.core.controllers.base.CsrfTokenManager.is_csrf_token_valid. An attacker who can lure a logged-in Oppia user to a malicious website can perform any change on Oppia that the user is authorized to do, including changing profile information; creating, deleting, and changing explorations; etc. Note that the attacker cannot change a user's login credentials. An attack would need to complete within 1 second because every second, the time used in computing the token changes. This issue has been addressed in commit b89bf80837 which has been included in release 3.3.2-hotfix-2. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2023-40021- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-203, CWE-208
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-40021 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.3) in Oppia, published August 16, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.77%, the 55th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
github.com/oppia/oppia/security/advisories/GHSA-49jp-pjc3-2532
github.com/oppia/oppia/pull/18769
github.com/oppia/oppia/commit/b89bf808378c1236874b5797a7bda32c77b4af23
github.com/oppia/oppia/blob/3a05c3558a292f3db9e658e60e708c266c003fd0/core/controllers/base.py
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40021.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40021