Express Gateway Hardcoded Default cipherKey Exposes OAuth Tokens
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · None
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
Express Gateway through 1.16.11 ships with a hardcoded default cipher key, sensitiveKey, for its crypto.cipherKey setting. An attacker with read access to the datastore, such as Redis, can decrypt stored OAuth 2.0 token secrets (CWE-1394) and combine them with stored token IDs to obtain valid bearer tokens for any user. Exploitation requires high privileges and high attack complexity, and the CVSS 4.0 base score is 7.4 (HIGH). CISA's SSVC data rates exploitation as PoC and the technical impact as total.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-29
Description from the CNA
Express Gateway through 1.16.11 contains a hardcoded cryptographic key vulnerability that allows attackers with datastore access to decrypt stored OAuth 2.0 token secrets via the default crypto.cipherKey 'sensitiveKey'. Attackers who can read Redis can decrypt tokenEncrypted values and combine them with stored token IDs to obtain valid bearer tokens for any user.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ExpressGateway | express-gateway | up to 1.16.11 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- express-gateway VendorExpressGateway Affected up to 1.16.11 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
The sources list no fixed version for express-gateway.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-29
Timeline
- 2026-10-07 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-107177
- 2026-10-07 Alias added: GHSA-rq2q-fwh6-p47r
- 2026-10-07 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-07 Priority changed: MEDIUM → HIGH
References
Other 4
- GitHub Issue #1078
- https://github.com/ExpressGateway/express-gateway
- https://github.com/ExpressGateway/express-gateway/blob/45612814d12f65889ef3bdf80b2ed7ab9b557736/lib/config/system.config.yml#L15-L22
- https://github.com/ExpressGateway/express-gateway/blob/45612814d12f65889ef3bdf80b2ed7ab9b557736/lib/services/utils.js#L18-L28
More ExpressGateway vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-69125 Express Gateway OAuth refresh token grant authentication bypass CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.6
- TI-2025-08338 ExpressGateway express-gateway REST Endpoint apps.js cross site scripting CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.1
- TI-2025-08337 ExpressGateway express-gateway REST Endpoint users.js cross site scripting CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.1
- TI-2020-17768 The official Express Gateway Docker images before 1.14.0 contain a blank password for a… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-107177 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-107177 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-rq2q-fwh6-p47r · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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