CVE-2025-13877

A vulnerability was detected in nocobase up to 1.9.4/2.0.0-alpha.37. The affected element is an unknown function of the file nocobase\packages\core\auth\src\base\jwt-service.ts of the component JWT Service. The manipulation of the argument API_KEY results in use of hard-coded cryptographic key . The attack can be launched remotely. A high complexity level is associated with this attack. The exploitability is described as difficult. The exploit is now public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

A vulnerability was detected in nocobase up to 1.9.4/2.0.0-alpha.37. The affected element is an unknown function of the file nocobase\packages\core\auth\src\base\jwt-service.ts of the component JWT Service. The manipulation of the argument API_KEY results in use of hard-coded cryptographic key . The attack can be launched remotely. A high complexity level is associated with this attack. The exploitability is described as difficult. The exploit is now public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

Duplicate Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-mv7p-34fv-4874. This link is maintained to preserve external references.

Original Description

A vulnerability was detected in nocobase up to 1.9.4/2.0.0-alpha.37. The affected element is an unknown function of the file nocobase\packages\core\auth\src\base\jwt-service.ts of the component JWT Service. The manipulation of the argument API_KEY results in use of hard-coded cryptographic key . The attack can be launched remotely. A high complexity level is associated with this attack. The exploitability is described as difficult. The exploit is now public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

Impact

CVE-2025-13877 is an authentication bypass vulnerability caused by insecure default JWT key usage in NocoBase Docker deployments.

Because the official one-click Docker deployment configuration historically provided a public default JWT key, attackers can forge valid JWT tokens without possessing any legitimate credentials. By constructing a token with a known userId (commonly the administrator account), an attacker can directly bypass authentication and authorization checks.

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to:

• Bypass authentication entirely
• Impersonate arbitrary users
• Gain full administrator privileges
• Access sensitive business data
• Create, modify, or delete users
• Access cloud storage credentials and other protected secrets

The vulnerability is remotely exploitable, requires no authentication, and public proof-of-concept exploits are available.
This issue is functionally equivalent in impact to other JWT secret exposure vulnerabilities such as CVE-2024-43441 and CVE-2025-30206.

Deployments that used the default Docker configuration without explicitly overriding the JWT secret are affected.

Patches

✅ The vulnerability has been fully patched through a secure JWT key management redesign.

The remediation enforces the following security guarantees:

• JWT secrets are no longer allowed to fall back to public default values.
• Secrets must either:
  • Be explicitly provided by the user, or
  • Be securely generated using cryptographically strong randomness at first startup.
• Generated secrets are persisted securely with restricted filesystem permissions.
• Invalid or weak secret values immediately trigger a startup failure.

✅ Fixed Versions:

• NocoBase ≥ 1.9.23
• NocoBase ≥ 1.9.0-beta.18
• NocoBase ≥ 2.0.0-alpha.52

Workarounds

If upgrading is not immediately possible, the following temporary mitigations must be performed to reduce risk:

1. Explicitly set a strong, randomly generated JWT secret via environment variables APP_KEY.
2. Restart all running NocoBase instances so the new secret takes effect.
3. Invalidate all existing JWT sessions, forcing complete user re-authentication.
4. Verify that no default secret values are present in:
   • docker-compose.yml
   • .env files
   • Kubernetes Secrets

References

• CVE Record: CVE-2025-13877

• VulDB Entry: https://vuldb.com/?id.334033

• Public Exploit Proof:
  https://gist.github.com/H2u8s/f3ede60d7ecfe598ae452aa5a8fbb90d

• Affected Default Docker Configurations:

  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-mysql/docker-compose.yml#L13
  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-mariadb/docker-compose.yml#L13
  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-postgres/docker-compose.yml#L11
  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-sqlite/docker-compose.yml#L11

• Official Deployment Documentation:

  • https://docs.nocobase.com/welcome/getting-started/installation/docker-compose
  • https://v2.docs.nocobase.com/get-started/installation/docker

A vulnerability was detected in nocobase up to 1.9.4/2.0.0-alpha.37. The affected element is an unknown function of the file nocobase\packages\core\auth\src\base\jwt-service.ts of the component JWT Service. The manipulation of the argument API_KEY results in use of hard-coded cryptographic key . The attack can be launched remotely. A high complexity level is associated with this attack. The exploitability is described as difficult. The exploit is now public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

Duplicate Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-mv7p-34fv-4874. This link is maintained to preserve external references.

Original Description

A vulnerability was detected in nocobase up to 1.9.4/2.0.0-alpha.37. The affected element is an unknown function of the file nocobase\packages\core\auth\src\base\jwt-service.ts of the component JWT Service. The manipulation of the argument API_KEY results in use of hard-coded cryptographic key . The attack can be launched remotely. A high complexity level is associated with this attack. The exploitability is described as difficult. The exploit is now public and may be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

Impact

CVE-2025-13877 is an authentication bypass vulnerability caused by insecure default JWT key usage in NocoBase Docker deployments.

Because the official one-click Docker deployment configuration historically provided a public default JWT key, attackers can forge valid JWT tokens without possessing any legitimate credentials. By constructing a token with a known userId (commonly the administrator account), an attacker can directly bypass authentication and authorization checks.

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to:

• Bypass authentication entirely
• Impersonate arbitrary users
• Gain full administrator privileges
• Access sensitive business data
• Create, modify, or delete users
• Access cloud storage credentials and other protected secrets

The vulnerability is remotely exploitable, requires no authentication, and public proof-of-concept exploits are available.
This issue is functionally equivalent in impact to other JWT secret exposure vulnerabilities such as CVE-2024-43441 and CVE-2025-30206.

Deployments that used the default Docker configuration without explicitly overriding the JWT secret are affected.

Patches

✅ The vulnerability has been fully patched through a secure JWT key management redesign.

The remediation enforces the following security guarantees:

• JWT secrets are no longer allowed to fall back to public default values.
• Secrets must either:
  • Be explicitly provided by the user, or
  • Be securely generated using cryptographically strong randomness at first startup.
• Generated secrets are persisted securely with restricted filesystem permissions.
• Invalid or weak secret values immediately trigger a startup failure.

✅ Fixed Versions:

• NocoBase ≥ 1.9.23
• NocoBase ≥ 1.9.0-beta.18
• NocoBase ≥ 2.0.0-alpha.52

Workarounds

If upgrading is not immediately possible, the following temporary mitigations must be performed to reduce risk:

1. Explicitly set a strong, randomly generated JWT secret via environment variables APP_KEY.
2. Restart all running NocoBase instances so the new secret takes effect.
3. Invalidate all existing JWT sessions, forcing complete user re-authentication.
4. Verify that no default secret values are present in:
   • docker-compose.yml
   • .env files
   • Kubernetes Secrets

References

• CVE Record: CVE-2025-13877

• VulDB Entry: https://vuldb.com/?id.334033

• Public Exploit Proof:
  https://gist.github.com/H2u8s/f3ede60d7ecfe598ae452aa5a8fbb90d

• Affected Default Docker Configurations:

  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-mysql/docker-compose.yml#L13
  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-mariadb/docker-compose.yml#L13
  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-postgres/docker-compose.yml#L11
  • https://github.com/nocobase/nocobase/blob/main/docker/app-sqlite/docker-compose.yml#L11

• Official Deployment Documentation:

  • https://docs.nocobase.com/welcome/getting-started/installation/docker-compose
  • https://v2.docs.nocobase.com/get-started/installation/docker