Medium

CSRF token fixation in fastify-passport

  • Disclosed: 21.04.2023
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

The CSRF protection enforced by the @fastify/csrf-protection library, when combined with @fastify/passport, can be bypassed by network and same-site attackers.

Details

fastify/csrf-protection implements the synchronizer token pattern (using plugins @fastify/session and @fastify/secure-session) by storing a random value used for CSRF token generation in the _csrf attribute of a user's session.

The @fastify/passport library does not clear the session object upon authentication, preserving the _csrf attribute between pre-login and authenticated sessions. Consequently, CSRF tokens generated before authentication are still valid. Network and same-site attackers can thus obtain a CSRF token for their pre-session, fixate that pre-session in the victim's browser via cookie tossing, and then perform a CSRF attack after the victim authenticates.

Fix

As a solution, newer versions of @fastify/passport include the configuration options

  • clearSessionOnLogin (default: true) and
  • clearSessionIgnoreFields (default: ['session'])

to clear all the session attributes by default, preserving those explicitly defined in clearSessionIgnoreFields.

Credits

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
npm package @fastify/passport < 1.1.0, >= 2.0.0, < 2.3.0 1.1.0, 2.3.0

References

CVSS score 6.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-352
Platform
npm
Package
@fastify/passport
Disclosed
21.04.2023
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-2ccf-ffrj-m4qw - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: @fastify/passport

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

Total entries
2
First → latest
04.2023 04.2023
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 1
  • Medium 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2023: 2
  2. 2024: 0
  3. 2025: 0
  4. 2026: 0
  1. High · 8.1 CVE-2023-29019 < 1.1.0, >= 2.0.0, < 2.3.0 1.1.0, 2.3.0
  2. CSRF token fixation in fastify-passport this entry
    Medium · 6.5 CVE-2023-29020 < 1.1.0, >= 2.0.0, < 2.3.0 1.1.0, 2.3.0

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