GitHub Advisoryadvisory · npm
GHSA-92hr-gmr6-h8cp Etherpad addressed weak token RNG, login timing, plugin path handling, API request handling
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Ecosystem
- npm
- Packages
- ep_etherpad-lite
- Severity
- Moderate
- Weaknesses
- CWE-208, CWE-209, CWE-22, CWE-235, CWE-330
- Reviewed
- 2026-08-17
Affected packages
• npm ep_etherpad-lite: < 3.3.0 → fixed in 3.3.0
Description
Fix: PR #7906 (ether/etherpad). A set of medium/low hardening fixes:
• Weak RNG for tokens (CWE-330): author/session/readonly IDs were generated with `Math.random()` (client and server). Now use `crypto.getRandomValues`.
• Login timing / no failure delay (CWE-208/CWE-307): the OIDC interaction login used a non-constant-time password compare with no failure delay. Now uses `crypto.timingSafeEqual` plus a uniform failure delay; user lookup is own-property only.
• Plugin dependency path handling (CWE-22): plugin dependency names from package.json were used to build filesystem paths without validation (admin-gated install). Now validated against the npm name grammar.
• API parameter pollution (CWE-235): `/api/2` merged all request headers into the API field set. Now forwards only `authorization`, matching the openapi.ts handler.
• Pad-creation side effect: `API.appendChatMessage` could create arbitrary pads (missing `getPadSafe`). Now requires the pad to exist.
• Error info disclosure (CWE-209): the admin file server echoed filesystem error detail; now returns a generic message.
Related
Weakness · CWE (5)
- CWE-208 Observable Timing Discrepancy weakness
- CWE-209 Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information weakness
- CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory weakness
- CWE-235 Improper Handling of Extra Parameters weakness
- CWE-330 Use of Insufficiently Random Values weakness
References
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/security/advisories/GHSA-92hr-gmr6-h8cp web
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/pull/7906 web
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/commit/7ea99706483443239bbbc0f2df9aff8ab5de4805 web
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad package
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/releases/tag/3.3.0 web