CVE-2023-46233

CRITICAL9.1EPSS 1.1%

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

Published: 10/25/2023Modified: 4/28/2026

Description

crypto-js is a JavaScript library of crypto standards. Prior to version 4.2.0, crypto-js 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 4.2.0 contains a patch for this issue. As a workaround, configure crypto-js to use SHA256 with at least 250,000 iterations.

Affected packages (3)

CVSS scores

SourceVersionSeverityVector
osvCVSS 3.1CRITICAL9.1CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

References (6)