VulnerabilityPublished 5 Mar 2026Updated 6 Mar 2026

CVE-2025-70949: couch-auth · Timing Side Channel

Affects couch-authSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 33% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 5 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
npm@perfood/couch-auth`pkg:npm/@perfood/couch-auth`Other threats	Affected =0.26.0	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-70949, organizations should first monitor for updates or patches from the @perfood/couch-auth maintainers and apply them promptly once available. In the interim, developers should review and refactor authentication code to use constant-time comparison functions for secret data verification, eliminating timing discrepancies. Employing cryptographic libraries designed to resist timing attacks is recommended. Implement network-level protections such as rate limiting, anomaly detection, and request throttling to hinder attackers from performing extensive timing measurements. Where feasible, introduce artificial response delays or jitter to obscure timing patterns, though this is a less reliable mitigation. Conduct thorough code audits of authentication and cryptographic routines to identify and fix similar side-channel vulnerabilities. Additionally, segregate sensitive authentication services behind internal networks or VPNs to reduce exposure. Educate developers about side-channel attack risks and secure coding practices. Finally, maintain comprehensive logging and alerting to detect suspicious access patterns indicative of timing attack attempts.

Description

An observable timing discrepancy in @perfood/couch-auth v0.26.0 allows attackers to access sensitive information via a timing side-channel.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-70949 is the potential unauthorized disclosure of sensitive authentication credentials or cryptographic secrets through timing analysis. This can lead to credential theft, unauthorized access to user accounts, and escalation of privileges within affected applications. Organizations relying on the vulnerable package may experience data breaches, loss of user trust, and regulatory compliance violations. The attack does not directly cause denial of service or data corruption but facilitates further exploitation by exposing secrets. Since the vulnerability can be exploited remotely without authentication, the attack surface is broad, especially for internet-facing services. The absence of a patch increases the window of exposure. The impact is particularly severe for organizations handling sensitive user data, financial information, or critical infrastructure controls. Additionally, attackers could chain this vulnerability with others to deepen system compromise. The overall risk is heightened in environments where network latency is low and attackers can perform precise timing measurements.

CWE-208Observable Timing Discrepancy (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
Logging (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.4 (opens in a new tab)
V14.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
V7.3.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Cross-Domain Search Timing (opens in a new tab)
Application Fingerprinting (opens in a new tab)
System Footprinting (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 5 Mar 2026, 21:30 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-208

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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