CVE-2026-40486 — kimai/kimai
MEDIUMCVE-2026-40486 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) CWE-915 vulnerability in kimai/kimai. A fix is available for kimai/kimai — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Kimai's User Preferences API allows standard users to modify restricted attributes: hourly_rate, internal_rate
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-40486.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-40486 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
kimai/kimaiReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Kimai is an open-source time tracking application. In versions 2.52.0 and below, the User Preferences API endpoint (PATCH /api/users/{id}/preferences) applies submitted preference values without checking the isEnabled() flag on preference objects. Although the hourly_rate and internal_rate fields are correctly marked as disabled for users lacking the hourly-rate role permission, the API ignores this restriction and saves the values directly. Any authenticated user can modify their own billing rates through this endpoint, resulting in unauthorized financial tampering affecting invoices and timesheet calculations. This issue has been fixed in version 2.53.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | kimai/kimai | all versions | 2.53.0composer require kimai/kimai:^2.53.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for kimai/kimai, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update kimai/kimai to 2.53.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-40486 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-40486 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-40486. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-40486 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-40486 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.