CVE-2020-5205
Session fixation attack in Pow (Hex package)
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- GitHub_M
Description
In Pow (Hex package) before 1.0.16, the use of Plug.Session in Pow.Plug.Session is susceptible to session fixation attacks if a persistent session store is used for Plug.Session, such as Redis or a database. Cookie store, which is used in most Phoenix apps, doesn't have this vulnerability.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium5.4 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.77% · top 44% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.5.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected < 1.0.16
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
What to do
Workaround: Call Plug.Conn.configure_session(conn, renew: true) periodically and after privilege change. A custom authorization plug can be written where the create/3 method should return the conn only after Plug.Conn.configure_session/2 have been called on it.
References (3)
- https://github.com/danschultzer/pow/security/advisories/GHSA-v2wf-c3j6-wpvw (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://github.com/danschultzer/pow/commit/578ffd3d8bb8e8a26077b644222186b108da474f (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/danschultzer/pow/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#v1016-2020-01-07 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-v2wf-c3j6-wpvw (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2020-5205)Record last updated .