Authentication Bypass in social-auth-core (CVE-2026-57178)
Summary
Authentication bypass in social-auth-core (CVE-2026-57178). Confidential information can be exposed externally. Exploitable via auth_key. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.0.0 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
Impact
The vk-app backend accepted VK application callback data without verifying the callback signature when the auth_key parameter was omitted.
Applications using this backend could treat unsigned attacker-controlled data as a verified VK identity. An attacker could choose callback fields such as viewer_id, access_token, api_id, and api_result, potentially allowing authentication as an arbitrary VK user ID.
The issue affects only applications using the vk-app backend.
Patches
The issue has been fixed by requiring auth_key to be present and valid before callback data is trusted.
Users should upgrade to a patched version.
Fix:
Workarounds
Applications that cannot upgrade immediately should disable the vk-app backend by removing social_core.backends.vk.VKAppOAuth2 from SOCIAL_AUTH_AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS.
There is no complete workaround while continuing to use the vulnerable backend.
Credits
Reported by @lalalala5678 through GitHub private vulnerability reporting.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-57178 has been found in social-auth-core.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like auth_key over the network to misuse the product.
Confidential information can be exposed externally. CVSS score: 7.4/10.
What to do: upgrade social-auth-core to 5.0.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "social-auth-core CVE-2026-57178" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-57178 (social-auth-core) — CWE-287 / CVSS v3 7.4
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated / no user interaction
Attack surface: auth_key / viewer_id / access_token / api_id
Patched: 5.0.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
Authentication bypass (CWE-287) exists in social-auth-core. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via auth_key without authentication.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of social-auth-core. Attack surface: auth_key / viewer_id / access_token / api_id.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.4/10). Confidential information can be exposed externally.
Update to 5.0.0.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'social-auth-core' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'social-auth-core' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
social-auth-coreを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade social-auth-core to 5.0.0ステージング環境で 5.0.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- advisory github.com
- package github.com
- package pypi.org
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com
- web github.com