Critical

LiteDB may deserialize bad JSON on object type using _type

  • Disclosed: 24.02.2023
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 11:22

Impact

LiteDB use a special field in JSON documents to cast diferent types from BsonDocument do POCO classes. When instance of an object are not the same of class, BsonMapper use a special field _type string info with full class name with assembly to be loaded and fit in your model. If your end-user can send to your app a plain JSON string, deserialization can load an unsafe object to fit in your model.

Patches

Version >= 5.0.13 add some basic fixes to avoid this, but is not 100% guaranteed when using Object type Next major version will contains a allow-list to select what king of Assembly can be loaded

Workarounds

  • Avoid users send to your app a JSON string to be direct insert/update into database
  • Avoid use classes with Object type - try use an interface when possible

If your app send a plain JSON string to be insert/update into database, prefer this:

// Bad
public class Customer {
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public Object AnyData { get; set; } // <= Avoid use `Object` base type
}

// Good
public class Customer {
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public IDictionary<string, string> AnyData { get; set; } // Will accept only key/value strings
}

References

See this workaround fix on this commit:

https://github.com/mbdavid/LiteDB/commit/4382ff4dd0dd8b8b16a4e37dfd29727c5f70f93f

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
.NET (NuGet) LiteDB < 5.0.13 5.0.13

References

CVSS score 9.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-502
Platform
.NET (NuGet)
Package
LiteDB
Disclosed
24.02.2023
Updated
11.10.2026 11:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-3x49-g6rc-c284 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: LiteDB

All published vulnerabilities of this package (.NET (NuGet)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

This is the only known vulnerability of this package.

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