Rocket.chatApplication

CVE-2023-28316

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A security vulnerability has been discovered in the implementation of 2FA on the rocket.chat platform, where other active sessions are not invalidated upon activating 2FA. This could potentially allow an attacker to maintain access to a compromised account even after 2FA is enabled.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A vulnerability in Rocket.Chat's 2FA implementation fails to invalidate existing active sessions when a user enables two-factor authentication. An attacker with stolen credentials or an existing compromised session can retain access to the account even after the legitimate user enables 2FA, because the platform does not terminate prior sessions during the 2FA activation process.

MitigationOrganizations should invalidate all existing sessions when 2FA is enabled (server-side fix) and users should manually log out of all devices after enabling 2FA. The fix requires modifying the 2FA enrollment flow to programmatically terminate all active sessions associated with the user account.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Rocket.chatApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Rocket.Chat deployment
    Identify any Rocket.Chat server instances running in your environment by checking for processes listening on typical Rocket.Chat ports (typically 3000) or searching for rocket.chat installation directories.
    Affected if Rocket.Chat server is present in the environment and uses 2FA functionality.
  2. Check current 2FA configuration status
    Navigate to the Rocket.Chat administration panel and review the Two-Factor Authentication settings to understand current 2FA enforcement policies.
    Affected if 2FA is available and enabled for user accounts.
  3. Identify active user sessions
    Use the Rocket.Chat admin panel to view currently active sessions per user account, or query the database for session records if you have direct access.
    Affected if Multiple active sessions exist for any user account.
  4. Test 2FA enrollment session behavior
    Create a test user account, establish a session (such as via a separate browser or API token), then enable 2FA for that user. Attempt to use the original session after 2FA has been enabled.
    Affected if The original session remains valid and can authenticate after 2FA was enabled without requiring the new second factor.
  5. Audit for unauthorized persistent sessions
    Review active sessions for accounts that have 2FA enabled and check if any sessions predate the 2FA activation timestamp.
    Affected if Sessions exist that were created before 2FA was enabled and remain active.

If Rocket.Chat is deployed and any pre-existing sessions remain valid after a user enables 2FA, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Organizations should invalidate all existing sessions when 2FA is enabled (server-side fix) and users should manually log out of all devices after enabling 2FA. The fix requires modifying the 2FA enrollment flow to programmatically terminate all active sessions associated with the user account.

Fix this in Rocket.chat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-28316 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data