Summary
CVE-2026-100631 is a query-operator injection vulnerability in Parse Server’s device token deduplication logic, affecting versions before 8.6.90 and versions 9.0.0 through 9.10.1-alpha.9 (exclusive). An unauthenticated remote attacker who knows only an application’s public application ID can submit non-string values in installation fields to inject database query operators, causing deletion of device installation records. The issue has been rated HIGH severity.
Technical details
- Root cause: The installation deduplication logic used to detect duplicate device tokens does not validate that client-supplied installation fields are strings before using them to construct database queries, allowing MongoDB-style query operators to be injected.
- Trigger conditions: An attacker sends a request to the Parse Server REST/installations endpoint with a crafted (non-string) value in an installation field; only the public application ID is required — no session token, user account, or master key is needed.
- Attack vector: Network-based, unauthenticated, no user interaction required (low attack complexity).
- Impact: The injected operator is processed by the deduplication cleanup routine, which runs with elevated privileges before class-level permissions are checked, allowing the attacker to delete some or all device installation/registration records for the application. Deleted registrations cannot be recovered server-side, disrupting push notification delivery until affected clients re-register.
Affected software
- parse-community/parse-server (npm package
parse-server):- All versions prior to 8.6.90
- Versions 9.0.0 up to (but not including) 9.10.1-alpha.9
Severity
- CVSS v4.0: 8.7 (High) —
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS v3.1: 7.5 (High) —
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Mitigation and recommended actions
- Immediate: Upgrade Parse Server to version 8.6.90 (for the 8.x branch) or 9.10.1 or later (for the 9.x branch), which contain the fix for this issue.
- If no patch can be applied immediately: Restrict or monitor unauthenticated access to the installations endpoint at the network layer (e.g., WAF rules blocking non-string/array payloads in installation fields), and audit installation/device-registration record counts for unexpected mass deletions as an indicator of exploitation attempts.

