CVE-2025-32782: Ash authentication Ash_authentication Has Email Link Auto-click Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-3988-q8q7-p787
CVSS 5.3
CWE-306
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2025-32782 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.3) ash_authentication has email link auto-click vulnerability (CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function) affecting Ash authentication libraries in the Hex ecosystem. The issue involves ash_authentication has email link auto-click account confirmation vulnerability. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.7.0.

CVE-2025-32782 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2025-32782
GHSA Identifier GHSA-3988-q8q7-p787
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.3
CWE Classification CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function
Affected Product Ash authentication
Package Ecosystem Hex
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.3

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2025-32782

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Ash authentication dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

ash_authentication fixed: 4.7.0
Upgrade ash_authentication to 4.7.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

inspect dependencies for ash_authentication

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2025-32782, inspect your project dependencies for Ash authentication:

inspect dependencies for ash_authentication

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Ash authentication in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.7.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function, where the product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources. In Ash authentication, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact The confirmation flow for account creation currently uses a GET request triggered by clicking a link sent via email. Some email clients and security tools (e.g., Outlook, virus scanners, and email previewers) may automatically follow these links, unintentionally confirming the account. This allows an attacker to register an account using another user’s email and potentially have it auto-confirmed by the victim’s email client. This does not allow attackers to take over or access existing accounts or private data. It is limited to account confirmation of new accounts only. ### Patches A mitigation has been released in version `4.7.0`. You will also need to upgrade to `2.6.0` or later of `ash_authentication_phoenix` to take advantage of the autogenerated views for confirmation. The fix updates the confirmation flow to require explicit user interaction (such as clicking a button on the confirmation page) rather than performing the confirmation via a GET request. This ensures that automatic link prefetching or scanning by email clients does not unintentionally confirm accounts. To mitigate, follow these steps: 1. Upgrade `ash_authentication` >= `4.7.0` 2. Upgrade `ash_authentication_phoenix` >= `2.6.0` (if using `ash_authentication_phoenix`) 3. Set `require_interaction? true` in your confirmation strategy. 4. Add `confirm_route` to your router, if using `ash_authentication_phoenix` *above* `auth_routes`. #### Setting `require_interaction? true` modify your `confirmation` strategy like so: ```elixir confirmation <strategy_name> do ... require_interaction? true end ``` #### Adding the `confirm_route` to your router In order to use this new confirmation flow, you will need to add this to your router to get the desired behavior. It will add a new route to the new confirmation page LiveView. Note the `path` and `token_as_route_param?` options, required for keeping backwards compatibility with current defaults. You may need to adjust if you have changed those routes in some way. ##### IMPORTANT - above `auth_routes` Make sure this goes *above* `auth_routes` if you are using the `path` option, and it begins with `/auth`, or whatever your configured `auth_routes_prefix` is. `auth_routes` greedily handles all routes at the configured path. ```elixir confirm_route( MyApp.Accounts.User, <confirmation_strategy_name>, auth_routes_prefix: "/auth", overrides: [MyAppWeb.AuthOverrides, AshAuthentication.Phoenix.Overrides.Default], # use these options to keep your currently issued confirmation emails compatible # without the options below, the route will default to `/<the_strategy_name>/:token` path: "/auth/user/<confirmation_strategy_name>", token_as_route_param?: false ) ``` Users should upgrade to version `4.7.0` as soon as possible, and set `require_interaction?` to `true` in their confirmation strategy. This will change the `GET` request generated for confirming to a `POST` request. If you upgrade to this version and do not set `require_interaction?` to `true`, compilation will be fail with a message linking to this advisory. This error can be bypassed if, for example, you are confident that you are not affected. ### Workarounds _Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?_ You can disable the confirmation routes and create your own live view. We highly advised that you upgrade and take advantage of the builtin views if possible. If you are not using the provided views, you will need to *add* a confirmation LiveView, that does a `POST` to the old confirmation url instead of a `GET`. You would do this by taking the token a parameter out of the link, and adding it as a hidden field to a form. That form would have no inputs, only a button that posts to the confirmation URL. If you are using Liveview, this would be done with `phx-trigger-action` and `phx-action`.

CVE-2025-32782 Affected Ash authentication Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.7.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
ash_authentication
Hex
< 4.7.0
4.7.0

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-32782?
CVE-2025-32782 is a security vulnerability in Ash authentication involving ash_authentication has email link auto-click account confirmation vulnerability under CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function.
Which Ash authentication versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.7.0 across affected packages: ash_authentication.
What version fixes CVE-2025-32782?
Upgrading to 4.7.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is ash_authentication affected?
Yes, ash_authentication is affected in releases prior to 4.7.0. Upgrade your dependency to 4.7.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-32782?
CVE-2025-32782 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-32782?
CVE-2025-32782 is classified under CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function (The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.).
How can I check Hex dependencies for CVE-2025-32782?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for ash_authentication'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-3988-q8q7-p787",
  "modified" : "2025-04-16T00:40:51Z",
  "published" : "2025-04-14T23:00:39Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-32782" ],
  "summary" : "ash_authentication has email link auto-click account confirmation vulnerability",
  "details" : "### Impact\n\nThe confirmation flow for account creation currently uses a GET request triggered by clicking a link sent via email. Some email clients and security tools (e.g., Outlook, virus scanners, and email previewers) may automatically follow these links, unintentionally confirming the account. This allows an attacker to register an account using another user’s email and potentially have it auto-confirmed by the victim’s email client.\n\nThis does not allow attackers to take over or access existing accounts or private data. It is limited to account confirmation of new accounts only.\n\n### Patches\nA mitigation has been released in version `4.7.0`. You will also need to upgrade to `2.6.0` or later of `ash_authentication_phoenix` to take advantage of the autogenerated views for confirmation. The fix updates the confirmation flow to require explicit user interaction (such as clicking a button on the confirmation page) rather than performing the confirmation via a GET request. This ensures that automatic link prefetching or scanning by email clients does not unintentionally confirm accounts.\n\nTo mitigate, follow these steps:\n\n1. Upgrade `ash_authentication` >= `4.7.0`\n2. Upgrade `ash_authentication_phoenix` >= `2.6.0` (if using `ash_authentication_phoenix`)\n3. Set `require_interaction? true` in your confirmation strategy.\n4. Add `confirm_route` to your router, if using `ash_authentication_phoenix` *above* `auth_routes`.\n\n#### Setting `require_interaction? true`\n\nmodify your `confirmation` strategy like so:\n\n```elixir\nconfirmation <strategy_name> do\n  ...\n  require_interaction? true\nend\n```\n\n#### Adding the `confirm_route` to your router\n\nIn order to use this new confirmation flow, you will need to add this to your router to get the desired behavior. It will add a new route to the new confirmation page LiveView. Note the `path` and `token_as_route_param?` options, required for keeping backwards compatibility with current defaults. You may need to adjust if you have changed those routes in some way.\n\n##### IMPORTANT - above `auth_routes`\n\nMake sure this goes *above* `auth_routes` if you are using the `path` option, and it begins with `/auth`,\nor whatever your configured `auth_routes_prefix` is. `auth_routes` greedily handles all routes at the\nconfigured path.\n\n```elixir\nconfirm_route(\n  MyApp.Accounts.User,\n  <confirmation_strategy_name>,\n  auth_routes_prefix: \"/auth\",\n  overrides: [MyAppWeb.AuthOverrides, AshAuthentication.Phoenix.Overrides.Default],\n  # use these options to keep your currently issued confirmation emails compatible\n  # without the options below, the route will default to `/<the_strategy_name>/:token`\n  path: \"/auth/user/<confirmation_strategy_name>\",\n  token_as_route_param?: false\n)\n```\n\nUsers should upgrade to version `4.7.0` as soon as possible, and set `require_interaction?` to `true` in their confirmation strategy. This will change the `GET` request generated for confirming to a `POST` request. \n\nIf you upgrade to this version and do not set `require_interaction?` to `true`, compilation will be fail with a message linking to this advisory. This error can be bypassed if, for example, you are confident that you are not affected.\n\n### Workarounds\n_Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading?_\nYou can disable the confirmation routes and create your own live view. We highly advised that you upgrade and take advantage of the builtin views if possible. If you are not using the provided views, you will need to *add* a confirmation LiveView, that does a `POST` to the old confirmation url instead of a `GET`. You would do this by taking the token a parameter out of the link, and adding it as a hidden field to a form. That form would have no inputs, only a button that posts to the confirmation URL. If you are using Liveview, this would be done with `phx-trigger-action` and `phx-action`.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Hex",
      "name" : "ash_authentication"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.7.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/team-alembic/ash_authentication/security/advisories/GHSA-3988-q8q7-p787"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-32782"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/team-alembic/ash_authentication/commit/99ea38977fd4f421d2aaae0c2fb29f8e5f8f707d"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/team-alembic/ash_authentication"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-306" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2025-04-14T23:00:39Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2025-04-15T22:15:28Z"
  }
}