Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-42446

Powauth Pow 1.0.14 – 1.0.34

Public PoC
Published
18 September 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0045 37th percentile
Risk Priority 50 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-42446 is a medium-severity Improper Validation of Certificate Expiration (CWE-298) vulnerability in Powauth Pow. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Subvert Trust Controls (T1553); ranked at the 37th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Pow is a authentication and user management solution for Phoenix and Plug-based apps. Starting in version 1.0.14 and prior to version 1.0.34, use of `Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache` is susceptible to session hijacking as expired keys are not being invalidated correctly on startup.…

more

A session may expire when all `Pow.Store.Backend.MnesiaCache` instances have been shut down for a period that is longer than a session's remaining TTL. Version 1.0.34 contains a patch for this issue. As a workaround, expired keys, including all expired sessions, can be manually invalidated.

CWE(s)
CWE-298CWE-672

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1553 Subvert Trust Controls Defense Impairment
Adversaries may undermine security controls that will either warn users of untrusted activity or prevent execution of untrusted programs.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1553.002 Code Signing Defense Impairment
Adversaries may create, acquire, or steal code signing materials to sign their malware or tools.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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CVE-2025-58149Shared CWE-672
CVE-2026-31875Shared CWE-672
CVE-2026-33463Shared CWE-672

Affected Assets

powauth
pow
1.0.14 — 1.0.34

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Enforcing managed authorizations and revocations directly prevents post-release operations on credentials or entitlements.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure development practices eliminate the root coding flaw that permits use-after-release.

PR.AA-03 partial match
prevents

Proper authentication of services/hardware requires certificate validation including expiration checks.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect missing certificate expiration checks but does not constitute the control's full intent.

A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
degrades

Enforces timely deletion of resources so they cannot be used after release.

A.8.24 Use of cryptography partial match
prevents

Cryptography policy requires proper certificate lifecycle management including expiration validation.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding practices can include certificate validation checks but do not address the control's broader scope.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change-management processes can introduce or remove resource-lifetime controls.

A.8.5 Secure authentication partial match
prevents

Secure authentication mandates validation of certificate attributes such as expiration dates.

References