Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2023-37899 can let an unauthenticated remote client crash a vulnerable FeathersJS Node.js application through malformed realtime socket input. The impact is availability loss, not data theft or data modification. Fixed Feathers releases are available, and the advisory states there is no known workaround.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority availability risk for public or customer-facing Feathers services. Upgrade promptly during the next safe deployment window, sooner for internet-exposed realtime APIs or systems with weak process resilience.
Technical view
Feathers socket handling failed to catch invalid implicit string-conversion errors, causing the Node.js process to crash on unexpected Socket.io messages. Affected versions are Feathers before 4.5.18 and 5.0.0 through before 5.0.8. The issue is CWE-754 with CVSS 3.1 score 7.5, availability-only impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely in applications using vulnerable Feathers versions with Socket.io or realtime socket routes reachable by users or the internet. Services without Feathers, without affected versions, or without exposed socket handlers are not indicated as affected by the provided sources.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cite active exploitation. The vulnerability is network-reachable, low-complexity, and requires no privileges or user interaction. Practical concern is denial of service through process crashes, especially where process supervision, clustering, or rate controls are weak.
Researcher notes
The advisory evidence supports denial of service through uncaught invalid string-conversion handling in Feathers sockets. It does not support confidentiality or integrity impact, active exploitation, or alternative mitigations. Validation should focus on dependency versioning and socket exposure, not live offensive probing.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Feathers 4.x to 4.5.18 or later.
- Upgrade Feathers 5.x to 5.0.8 or later.
- Redeploy and restart affected Node.js services after upgrading.
- Check vendor guidance because no workaround is documented.
- Monitor application availability and crash rates after remediation.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Feathers versions across package manifests and lockfiles.
- Confirm exposed applications use Feathers below 4.5.18 or 5.0.8.
- Identify whether Socket.io or realtime socket routes are reachable.
- Use SCA results to confirm the fixed version is deployed.
- Review logs for unexplained Node.js process crashes on socket traffic.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-754: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2023-37899 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers/security/advisories/GHSA-hhr9-rh25-hvf9CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers/pull/3241CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers/pull/3242CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers/blob/crow/CHANGELOG.md#4518-2023-07-19CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/feathersjs/feathers/blob/dove/CHANGELOG.md#508-2023-07-19CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions
Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.