Vulnerabilities

In mongo-express 1.0.2, /admin allows CSRF, as demonstrated by deletion of a Collection.

mongo-express is a web-based MongoDB admin interface, written with Node.js and express. 1: As mentioned in this issue: https://github.com/mongo-express/mongo-express/issues/577, when the content of a cell grows larger than supported size, clicking on a row will show full document unescaped, however this needs admin interaction on cell. 2: Data cells identified as media will be rendered as media, without being sanitized. Example of different renders: image, audio, video, etc. As an example of type 1 attack, an unauthorized user who only can send a large amount of data in a field of a document may use a payload with embedded javascript. This could send an export of a collection to the attacker without even an admin knowing. Other types of attacks such as dropping a database\collection are possible.

All versions of package mongo-express are vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) when exporting an empty collection as CSV, due to an unhandled exception, leading to a crash.

mongo-express before 1.0.0 offers support for certain advanced syntax but implements this in an unsafe way. NOTE: this may overlap CVE-2019-10769.

mongo-express, the web-based administration interface for MongoDB, is vulnerable to remote code execution (CWE-94 code injection) in versions before 0.54.0. The flaw stems from a misuse of the Node.js `vm` dependency: endpoints that invoke the `toBSON` method evaluate attacker-supplied input via `exec`-style commands outside a properly sandboxed environment, so an authenticated web-UI user (CVSS PR:L) can trigger the flaw over the network with no user interaction. Successful exploitation yields arbitrary command execution on the host running mongo-express, typically with access to the MongoDB instance and potentially the surrounding container or server. Any mongo-express deployment prior to 0.54.0 is affected, particularly instances exposed to the internet or shared networks where default or weak credentials are in use. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: CISA added the flaw to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 2021-12-10, EPSS assigns an ~84.7% probability of exploitation within 30 days, and public proof-of-concept references are available.

Do: Upgrade mongo-express to version 0.54.0 or later, per CISA's required action to apply vendor updates. Restrict the mongo-express web UI to trusted networks and set strong, non-default credentials, since triggering the flaw requires an authenticated session. Inventory Node.js and Docker-based deployments running mongo-express, especially internet-facing ones, and patch them promptly as this flaw is on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list.