CVE-2023-30861
Flask vulnerable to possible disclosure of permanent session cookie due to missing Vary: Cookie header
- Published
- May 2, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 13, 2025
- Assigning CNA
- GitHub_M
- Evidence observed
- Aug 8, 2026
Primary CVSS
nvd · CVSS 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NLow · next 30 days
- Percentile
- 67.8%
- Model date
- Sep 21, 2026
EPSS is a statistical estimate, not a certainty or a measure of impact. Combine it with CVSS, KEV status, exposure and your environment.
Summary
Flask is a lightweight WSGI web application framework. When all of the following conditions are met, a response containing data intended for one client may be cached and subsequently sent by the proxy to other clients. If the proxy also caches `Set-Cookie` headers, it may send one client's `session` cookie to other clients. The severity depends on the application's use of the session and the proxy's behavior regarding cookies. The risk depends on all these conditions being met. 1. The application must be hosted behind a caching proxy that does not strip cookies or ignore responses with cookies. 2. The application sets `session.permanent = True` 3. The application does not access or modify the session at any point during a request. 4. `SESSION_REFRESH_EACH_REQUEST` enabled (the default). 5. The application does not set a `Cache-Control` header to indicate that a page is private or should not be cached. This happens because vulnerable versions of Flask only set the `Vary: Cookie` header when the session is accessed or modified, not when it is refreshed (re-sent to update the expiration) without being accessed or modified. This issue has been fixed in versions 2.3.2 and 2.2.5.
Sources
1Docker-based PoC for Flask CVE-2023-30861, demonstrating session handling vulnerability between Flask and reverse proxy cache servers for security research and testing.
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