CVE-2026-6853: Pause+ Mobile App Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2026-6853 Overview

CVE-2026-6853 is an authentication bypass vulnerability affecting the Pause+ Mobile App developed by Başbelen Group Food Cafe Businesses Industry and Trade Ltd. Co. The flaw stems from improper restriction of excessive authentication attempts [CWE-307], allowing attackers to brute force credentials without rate limiting or account lockout protections. The vulnerability affects Pause+ Mobile App versions from v1.0.6 up to but not including v1.5. Turkey's national cyber security center published advisory TR-26-0368 documenting the issue. Attackers exploiting this weakness can authenticate as legitimate users by repeatedly submitting credential guesses against the mobile app authentication endpoint.

Critical Impact
Network-based attackers can bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to user accounts by brute forcing credentials without triggering any lockout or throttling mechanism.

Affected Products

Başbelen Group Pause+ Mobile App v1.0.6
Başbelen Group Pause+ Mobile App versions through v1.4.x
All Pause+ Mobile App releases prior to v1.5

Discovery Timeline

2026-06-12 - CVE-2026-6853 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-6853

Vulnerability Analysis

The Pause+ Mobile App authentication flow accepts unlimited login attempts against user accounts. The backend does not enforce attempt counters, account lockouts, exponential backoff, or CAPTCHA challenges after repeated failures. Attackers can script high-volume credential testing against the authentication API and successfully bypass authentication when valid credentials are discovered.

The weakness corresponds to CWE-307 (Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts). Authentication endpoints that lack throttling allow credential stuffing, dictionary attacks, and targeted brute force against known account identifiers. The mobile application context increases exposure because mobile clients often use predictable user identifiers such as phone numbers or email addresses.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of server-side controls that limit authentication attempt frequency per account, per IP address, or per device. Without these controls, the authentication endpoint treats each login request independently and applies no historical context to reject suspicious request patterns.

Attack Vector

The vulnerability is exploitable over the network with low attack complexity and requires no privileges or user interaction. An attacker enumerates user identifiers, then submits sequential authentication requests against the Pause+ backend API using common password lists or leaked credential databases. The absence of rate limiting allows attempts to proceed at the maximum rate the network permits. Successful authentication grants full account access, compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the targeted user's data.

For full technical context, refer to the Siber Güvenlik Notification TR-26-0368.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-6853

Indicators of Compromise

High volume of failed authentication requests from a single source IP targeting the Pause+ Mobile App API
Sequential or rapid login attempts against multiple user accounts within short time windows
Authentication requests originating from data center IP ranges, anonymizing proxies, or known credential stuffing infrastructure
Successful login events immediately preceded by clusters of failed attempts for the same account

Detection Strategies

Aggregate authentication logs by source IP and account identifier to identify request rates that exceed normal user behavior
Correlate failed and successful login pairs to surface accounts compromised through brute force
Apply behavioral baselines that flag deviations in login geolocation, device fingerprint, or time of day

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward mobile backend authentication logs to a centralized SIEM with retention sufficient for forensic review
Generate alerts when failed login counts exceed defined thresholds per account or per source within rolling time windows
Monitor for password spray patterns where a single password is tested against many accounts
Track authentication API response codes and latency to detect automation

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-6853

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade Pause+ Mobile App backend services and clients to version v1.5 or later
Force password resets for accounts showing suspicious authentication activity since the vulnerable versions were deployed
Audit authentication logs for evidence of brute force or credential stuffing against existing accounts
Notify users of the issue and recommend enabling any available multi-factor authentication options

Patch Information

Başbelen Group resolved the vulnerability in Pause+ Mobile App v1.5. All deployments running versions from v1.0.6 through earlier v1.4.x releases must update to the fixed release. Consult the Siber Güvenlik Notification TR-26-0368 for vendor coordination details.

Workarounds

Deploy a Web Application Firewall or API gateway in front of the authentication endpoint to enforce per-IP and per-account rate limits
Enable CAPTCHA or proof-of-work challenges after a small number of failed login attempts
Block authentication requests from known malicious IP ranges and anonymization services
Require multi-factor authentication for all user accounts to neutralize credential-only compromise

bash

# Example nginx rate limiting for authentication endpoint
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=auth_limit:10m rate=5r/m;

server {
    location /api/auth/login {
        limit_req zone=auth_limit burst=3 nodelay;
        limit_req_status 429;
        proxy_pass http://pauseplus_backend;
    }
}