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CriticalVulnerabilityCVE-2026-117564updated 27 Oct 2026, 14:19 UTC

nest-admin: attackers can forge admin login tokens

A secret key used to sign login tokens was accidentally saved in a file that shipped with the app. Anyone who finds it can create fake admin logins and take full control.

Fixed in nest-admin 1.0.1Official source
SeverityCriticalCVSS 9.3 of 10
Being exploited?UnclearNo reports either way yet
Fix available?Yesnest-admin 1.0.1 · since 27 Oct 2026
How sure is this?Official sourceBacked by an official source

How the attack works simplified

  1. 1Attacker finds secretSecret is committed in .env.production
  2. 2Forges tokenSigns token with the known JWT_SECRET
  3. 3Sends token to appToken looks valid to JwtStrategy
  4. 4Gains admin roleRbacGuard accepts claimed admin role
  5. ResultAttacker gets full admin access

What happened

nest-admin versions before 1.0.1 ship a hardcoded JWT_SECRET in .env.production, which JwtStrategy and RbacGuard use to validate JSON Web Tokens. Attackers can sign their own tokens with this known secret and impersonate any user or claim the admin role.

Why it is dangerous: An unauthenticated attacker can gain full administrative access to the application, including all of its data and functions. Any deployment that uses the committed secret is exposed.

Are you affected?

You are affected if you run nest-admin before 1.0.1 with the JWT_SECRET from .env.production in use.

nest-admin versions before 1.0.1

What to do

  1. Update nest-admin to version 1.0.1 or later
  2. Generate a new, random JWT_SECRET and set it in your environment, not in committed files
  3. Remove .env.production from the repository and check git history for the leaked secret
  4. Invalidate any existing tokens and review admin accounts for unexpected changes

Timeline

  1. 27 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC
    Publicly disclosed
  2. 27 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC
    Reported by NVD · NVD
  3. 27 Oct 2026, 14:19 UTC
    Picked up by Zero Radar

Sources 1 report, oldest first

Official vendor, government CERT or advisory database

Technical details

ID
CVE-2026-117564
CVSS
9.3 / 10
EPSS
0.6% chance of exploitation within 30 days
Disclosed
27 Oct 2026, 14:16 UTC
On Zero Radar
27 Oct 2026, 14:19 UTC (3 min after disclosure)
Last change
27 Oct 2026, 14:19 UTC

The plain-language parts and the attack diagram were written by an AI model (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5) from the sources above. Facts like versions, exploitation and dates come from the sources themselves. How Zero Radar works

nest-admin: attackers can forge admin login tokens · Zero Radar