CVE-2026-44523
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 · uneditedNote Mark is an open-source note-taking application. Prior to 0.19.4, no minimum length or entropy is enforced on the JWT_SECRET configuration value. The application accepts any base64-decodable secret regardless of size, including secrets as short as 1 byte. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.19.4.
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 confidenceNote Mark versions before 0.19.4 accept any base64-decodable value as JWT_SECRET without enforcing minimum length or entropy requirements, allowing secrets as weak as 1 byte. Attackers can easily guess or brute-force these weak secrets to forge valid JWT tokens and bypass authentication.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine Note Mark versionLocate the installed Note Mark version by checking the application binary, container image label, package manager listing, or version file typically included with the installationAffected if Version is prior to 0.19.4
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Locate JWT_SECRET configurationSearch for the JWT_SECRET environment variable or configuration file entry where Note Mark stores its JWT signing secretAffected if JWT_SECRET is set to any value (vulnerability applies to any base64-decodable secret)
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Assess secret lengthDecode the JWT_SECRET value from base64 and measure its byte length, or inspect the raw base64 string character countAffected if The decoded secret is less than 32 bytes long (shorter secrets are trivially brute-forceable)
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Check for weak secret patternsExamine whether the secret contains predictable patterns, common words, or appears in password breach databasesAffected if Secret is short, uses common dictionary words, or shows low entropy characteristics
You are affected if Note Mark version is prior to 0.19.4 AND JWT_SECRET is configured with a short or weak secret, as attackers could forge valid JWT tokens to impersonate users.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade to version 0.19.4 or later and regenerate the JWT_SECRET with a cryptographically strong value (minimum 256 bits of entropy, typically 32+ random bytes).
0.19.4
- Upgrade Note Mark to version 0.19.4 or later
- After upgrading, verify that JWT_SECRET is set to a strong, sufficiently long secret (the application will now enforce minimum entropy requirements)
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-44523 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-44523 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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