Security 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 0.0055 45th percentile
Risk Priority 51 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

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 Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked at the 45th 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

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-1248Shared CWE-298
CVE-2025-67109Shared CWE-298
CVE-2025-4384Shared CWE-298
CVE-2025-59036Shared CWE-298
CVE-2025-67108Shared CWE-298
CVE-2026-1237Shared CWE-672
CVE-2026-19538Shared CWE-672
CVE-2026-42791Shared CWE-672
CVE-2024-27308Shared CWE-672
CVE-2025-39698Shared 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)
  • 4 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-03 partial match
blocks

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.8.10 Information deletion partial match
degrades

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

A.8.19 Installation of software on operational systems partial match
removes
A.8.24 Use of cryptography partial match
blocks

A.8.24 requires proper use of cryptography per policy, including key management and algorithm selection, but says nothing about validating certificate expiration dates; an expired but unvalidated certificate can still be accepted and exploited.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
removes
A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
removes
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.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-672, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References