parse-server: Stored XSS via non-standard file extension bypassing file upload extension blocklist
Date: 2026-06
Affected: npm/parse-server, npm/parse-server
Attack vector: xss
Category: vulnerability-disclosure
Severity: Low
CVE: CVE-2026-55778
CWE: CWE-434

### Impact Parse Server's default `fileUpload.fileExtensions` blocklist is intended to prevent uploading files that browsers render as active content (such as HTML and SVG), which can be used to perform stored cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks against other users. The blocklist could be bypassed by uploading a file whose extension is not an exact match of a blocked extension (for example a non-standard or compound extension) together with a dangerous content type. On storage adapters that persist and serve the uploaded content type (such as S3 and GCS), the file is then served with the attacker-supplied content type, enabling stored XSS against users who open the file URL. This affects the default configuration, in which authenticated users are allowed to upload files. The default GridFS/filesystem adapter sets the `X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff` response header, which mitigates browser rendering on that adapter, but the upload restriction itself is still bypassed. This is an incomplete-fix follow-up of GHSA-vr5f-2r24-w5hc and GHSA-7wqv-xjf3-x35v. ### Patches The file upload extension validation now also evaluates the request content type against the configured blocklist whenever the filename's extension is not a recognized type. As a result, a dangerous content type can no longer be preserved by uploading a file with a non-standard extension, and such uploads are rejected. ### Workarounds Configure `fileUpload.fileExtensions` as a strict allowlist of only the file e


Mitigations:

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):