High Authentication

CVE-2026-73431 — Reusable Account Activation and Recovery Tokens Allow Repeated Account Takeover in vulnerability-lookup

Vulnerability-Lookup contains an authentication weakness in its account activation and password-recovery mechanism. Activation and recovery links were generated using stateless signed tokens containing only the user's login. Although the token signature and age were validated, the application did not track whether a token had already been successfully used. As a result, a captured activation or password-recovery link remained valid for the entire configured TOKEN_VALIDITY_PERIOD, even after the associated password had been changed. An attacker who obtains a valid activation or recovery token could therefore replay it multiple times during its validity period to set a new password and repeatedly take control of the affected account. In addition, tokens were not bound to a specific purpose, allowing the same token mechanism to be used across activation and recovery workflows. The patch introduces purpose-bound tokens and a random nonce whose SHA-256 digest is stored with the user account. The nonce is invalidated after a successful password change, making tokens single-use, while issuing a new token invalidates any previously issued token. The password-setting operation now explicitly consumes the token before committing the account change. Successful exploitation requires the attacker to obtain a currently valid activation or recovery link, but does not require knowledge of the victim's existing password or an authenticated session.

Published Aug 12, 2026 · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: CIRCL

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

Technical severity (high)+6

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

—

No EPSS score.

Affects

Vulnerability-lookup

CVSS base

8.8

High · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Vulnerability-lookup Vulnerability-lookup).
No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (authentication), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Vulnerability-lookup	Vulnerability-lookup	≤ 5.5.1	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Network

Attack complexity

High

Attack requirements

None

Privileges required

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Confidentiality (vulnerable system)

High

Integrity (vulnerable system)

High

Availability (vulnerable system)

None

Confidentiality (subsequent)

High

Integrity (subsequent)

High

Availability (subsequent)

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
8.8	CVSS 4.0	High	—	—	5a6e4751-2f3f-4070-9419-94fb35b644e8 via NIST National Vulnerability Database
8.8	CVSS 4.0	High	—	—	CIRCL via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

(score shown at the top: 5a6e4751-2f3f-4070-9419-94fb35b644e8)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-294 · Authentication Bypass by Capture-replay

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
Review authentication logs: logins without MFA, anomalous sessions and recently created accounts.

web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSauthentication logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · vulnerability-lookup/vulnerability-lookup
Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 15, 2026
CVSS changed · 8.8
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Deferred
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Aug 12, 2026 · CIRCL

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026

References

1 on the record

github.com/vulnerability-lookup/vulnerability-lookup/commit/bef837242657acf68083
patch, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Vulnerability-lookup
every CVE for this vendor

Authentication
same class

CWE-294
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

Medium CVE-2026-73374 Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via Unescaped CNA Reference Tags in vulnerability-lookup Aug 12, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-73405 Authorization Bypass in SSE Pub/Sub Allows Unconfirmed Accounts to Access Stream Events in vulnerability-lookup Aug 12, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-73432 Stored Server-Side Request Forgery in Remote-Instance Synchronization Allows Access to Internal Services in vulnerability-lookup Aug 12, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No FIRST EPSS score.
No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-73431 is "Reusable Account Activation and Recovery Tokens Allow Repeated Account Takeover in vulnerability-lookup", rated High. It affects Vulnerability-lookup (Vulnerability-lookup); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 8.8 describes technical severity. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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