Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-53517

Race Condition in Better-Auth Better Auth 1.4.9 – 1.6.11

Published
15 July 2026
Modified
21 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0024 15th percentile
Risk Priority 60 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-53517 is a high-severity Race Condition (CWE-362) vulnerability in Better-Auth Better Auth. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 15th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-25 (Reference Monitor) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Better Auth is an authentication and authorization library for TypeScript. From 1.4.8-beta.7 until 1.6.11, the @better-auth/oauth-provider POST /oauth2/token endpoint on the refresh_token grant performs a non-atomic read, validate, revoke, and mint sequence on the oauthRefreshToken row, allowing concurrent requests with…

more

the same parent refresh token to pass the revoked check and create forked refresh-token families; the vulnerable range also includes embedded better-auth plugin versions before 1.6.0. This issue is fixed in version 1.6.11.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1034 Path Interception Persistence
**This technique has been deprecated.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1574 Hijack Execution Flow Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking the way operating systems run programs.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-53518Same product: Better-Auth Better-Auth\/Oauth-Provider
CVE-2026-41427Same product: Better-Auth Better-Auth\/Oauth-Provider
CVE-2026-53514Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth
CVE-2026-45337Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth
CVE-2026-53516Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth
CVE-2024-56734Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth
CVE-2025-27143Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth
CVE-2026-53515Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth
CVE-2026-53513Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth
CVE-2026-53512Same product: Better-Auth Better Auth

Affected Assets

better-auth
better-auth\/oauth-provider
1.6.0 — 1.6.11
better-auth
better auth
1.4.8 · 1.4.9 — 1.6.11

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V10.4.2
  • V10.4.5
  • V15.1.3
  • V15.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

A reference monitor that is always invoked and analyzable structurally eliminates the non-atomic check-then-use pattern underlying TOCTOU.

Access enforcement that performs an atomic check-and-use decision directly stops the window in which a TOCTOU race can be exploited.

Maintaining separate execution domains for each process structurally eliminates unintended concurrent access to the same shared resources.

Preventing unintended information transfer through shared system resources directly addresses the improper concurrent modification that defines a race condition.

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.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require proper synchronization primitives and concurrency testing that prevent race conditions.

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.

finds

Security testing can detect race conditions, but does not prevent them at design or coding time.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates concurrency controls and synchronization primitives that directly prevent race conditions.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify thread-safety and locking rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require proper synchronization and resource isolation, addressing the root cause of CWE-362.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe concurrent access patterns and mandate atomic operations or locks.

none

Reliable, synchronized time across systems narrows the exploitable window in which a resource state can change between a security check and its use.

References