Mongoose's Improper Sanitization of $nor in sanitizeFilter May Allow NoSQL Injection

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

7.5 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2026-42334: 0.27% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 19.87 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact This vulnerability allows bypassing Mongoose’s sanitizeFilter query sanitization mechanism via the $nor operator. When sanitizeFilter is enabled, Mongoose wraps query operators in $eq to neutralize them. However, prior to the fix, $nor was not included in the set of logical operators that are recursively sanitized. Because $nor accepts an array (like $and and $or), and arrays do not trigger hasDollarKeys(), malicious operators such as $ne, $gt, or $regex could be injected inside a $nor clause without being sanitized. This may lead to: - Authentication bypass - Unauthorized data access - Data exfiltration Affected users: Applications that: - Explicitly enable sanitizeFilter - Pass unsanitized user-controlled input directly into query methods (e.g., Model.findOne(req.body)) and rely on sanitizeFilter to strip out query selectors Applications that validate input schemas, whitelist fields, or avoid passing raw request bodies into queries are not affected. For example,…

Published by the source

5 May 2026, 21:48 UTC

Last modified by the source

18 May 2026, 08:11 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 12:52 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-42334

Advisory: Mongoose's Improper Sanitization of $nor in sanitizeFilter May Allow NoSQL Injection
IDs: CVE-2026-42334, GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-42334 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:52 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: mongoose 9.1.6, 8.22.1, 7.8.9, 6.13.9. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm mongoose: affected < 6.13.9; >= 7.0.0, <= 7.8.8; >= 8.0.0, <= 8.22.0; >= 9.0.0, <= 9.1.5; fixed in 7.8.9, 6.13.9, 8.22.1, 9.1.6

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls mongoose --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on mongoose.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h (OSV record GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h lists affected ranges: npm mongoose >=0 =7.0.0 =8.0.0 =9.0.0 <9.1.6 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h lists affected ranges: npm mongoose >=0 =7.0.0 =8.0.0 =9.0.0 <=9.1.5)

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