Mongoose's Improper Sanitization of $nor in sanitizeFilter May Allow NoSQL Injection
Impact
This vulnerability allows bypassing Mongoose’s sanitizeFilter query sanitization mechanism via the $nor operator.
When sanitizeFilter is enabled, Mongoose wraps query operators in $eq to neutralize them. However, prior to the fix, $nor was not included in the set of logical operators that are recursively sanitized. Because $nor accepts an array (like $and and $or), and arrays do not trigger hasDollarKeys(), malicious operators such as $ne, $gt, or $regex could be injected inside a $nor clause without being sanitized.
This may lead to:
- Authentication bypass
- Unauthorized data access
- Data exfiltration
Affected users:
Applications that:
- Explicitly enable sanitizeFilter
- Pass unsanitized user-controlled input directly into query methods (e.g.,
Model.findOne(req.body)) and rely onsanitizeFilterto strip out query selectors
Applications that validate input schemas, whitelist fields, or avoid passing raw request bodies into queries are not affected. For example, Model.findOne({ user: req.body.user, pwd: req.body.pwd }) is not affected.
Patches
Patches have been released for all supported Mongoose release lines:
^6.13.9^7.8.9^8.22.1^9.1.6
Workarounds
Delete $nor keys, use an additional schema validation library, or write middleware to strip out $nor from query filters.
Resources
sanitizeFilter documentation: https://mongoosejs.com/docs/api/mongoose.html#Mongoose.prototype.sanitizeFilter()
Original blog post on sanitizeFilter: https://thecodebarbarian.com/whats-new-in-mongoose-6-sanitizefilter.html
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm package | mongoose | < 6.13.9, >= 7.0.0, < 7.8.9, >= 8.0.0, < 8.22.1, >= 9.0.0, < 9.1.6 | 6.13.9, 7.8.9, 8.22.1, 9.1.6 |
References
- https://github.com/Automattic/mongoose/security/advisories/GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42334
- https://github.com/Automattic/mongoose
- https://mongoosejs.com/docs/api/mongoose.html#Mongoose.prototype.sanitizeFilter()
- https://thecodebarbarian.com/whats-new-in-mongoose-6-sanitizefilter.html
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-74- Platform
- npm
- Package
mongoose- Disclosed
- 05.05.2026
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-wpg9-53fq-2r8h - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: mongoose
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
- 9
- First → latest
- 10.2019 07.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 4
- High 3
- Medium 2
Disclosures per year
- 2019: 1
- 2020: 1
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 2
- 2023: 1
- 2024: 1
- 2025: 1
- 2026: 2
-
Mongoose's Improper Sanitization of $nor in sanitizeFilter May Allow NoSQL Injection this entry
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