parse-server new anonymous user session acts as if it's created with password

Impact

Developers that use the REST API to signup users and also allow users to login anonymously. When an anonymous user is first signed up using REST, the server creates session incorrectly, particularly the authProvider field in _Session class under createdWith shows the user logged in creating a password. If a developer later depends on the createdWith field to provide a different level of access between a password user and anonymous user, the server incorrectly classified the session type as being created with a password.

The server currently doesn’t use createdWith to make decisions on how things work internally, so if a developer isn’t using createdWith directly, there’s nothing to worry about. The vulnerability only affects users who depend on createdWith by using it directly.

Patches

Upgrade to version 4.5.1.

Workarounds

Don’t use the createdWith Session field to make decisions if you allow anonymous login.

References

n/a