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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.1

CVE-2023-46133 json

crypto-es PBKDF2 1,000 times weaker than specified in 1993 and 1.3M times weaker than current standard

published 2023-10-25 3 y ago modified 2026-09-10 1 mo ago also GHSA-mpj8-q39x-wq5h , EUVD-2023-2777

cvss
9.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 45%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

CryptoES is a cryptography algorithms library compatible with ES6 and TypeScript. Prior to version 2.1.0, CryptoES PBKDF2 is 1,000 times weaker than originally specified in 1993, and at least 1,300,000 times weaker than current industry standard. This is because it both defaults to SHA1, a cryptographic hash algorithm considered insecure since at least 2005, and defaults to one single iteration, a 'strength' or 'difficulty' value specified at 1,000 when specified in 1993. PBKDF2 relies on iteration count as a countermeasure to preimage and collision attacks. If used to protect passwords, the impact is high. If used to generate signatures, the impact is high. Version 2.1.0 contains a patch for this issue. As a workaround, configure CryptoES to use SHA256 with at least 250,000 iterations.

Patch / fix

  • npm crypto-es 2.1.0
  • entronad cryptoes 2.1.0

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

0.54% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 45% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/entronad/crypto-es/security/advisories/GHSA-mpj8-q39x-wq5h referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
GitHub 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
npm crypto-es
<2.1.0
2.1.0

Affected products

  • entronad crypto-es
  • entronad cryptoes

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-328 Use of Weak Hash
  • CWE-916 Use of Password Hash With Insufficient Computational Effort
  • CWE-327 Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.