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Kimai: Pre-2FA KIMAI_SESSION cookie grants full authenticated REST API access, bypassing TOTPGHSA-v8hx-4vx8-wc96

GHSA-v8hx-4vx8-wc96 is a Improper Authentication vulnerability in kimai/kimai. A fix is available for kimai/kimai — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Also known asCVE-2026-52827
Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Oct 21, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

  • CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-v8hx-4vx8-wc96.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
0.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs47th percentile — riskier than 47% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.08%0.41%0.74%1.08%0.6%0.6%Oct 26Oct 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
🐘kimai/kimai

Real-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

Summary

Two-factor authentication (TOTP) can be fully bypassed for the REST API. The KIMAI_SESSION cookie returned in the response to the login request; issued after only the password is verified, before the TOTP step; is already accepted as authenticated by every /api/* endpoint.

So after submitting just the password, the web UI correctly holds the browser at the TOTP screen (/en/auth/2fa), but the cookie from that same login response can be replayed against the API to act as the user without ever entering the second factor. This affects any account with 2FA enabled and requires only the account password.

Details

Affected Component

  • The API firewall / authorization.

config/packages/security.yaml guards the API with { path: '^/api', roles: IS_AUTHENTICATED }. During 2FA the session carries a Scheb TwoFactorToken, which satisfies IS_AUTHENTICATED (it is a real, non-anonymous token). App\API\Authentication\ApiRequestMatcher returns !$request->hasPreviousSession(), so a request that carries the login session skips the stateless API firewall and is served by the main session firewall; Scheb's TwoFactorAccessDecider::isAccessible() then evaluates IS_AUTHENTICATED to true for ^/api and lets it through, and App\Voter\ApiVoter grants API to any token whose user is a User. Web routes are not affected because they require concrete roles (e.g. ROLE_USER) that a TwoFactorToken does not hold.

PoC

A PoC was provided, but removed for security reasons.

Impact

Two-factor authentication provides no protection for the REST API. If an attacker obtains a user's password (phishing, credential stuffing, reuse, breach); exactly the threat 2FA is meant to defend against; they get full authenticated API access as that user without the second factor. The whole exploit is a single cookie taken from the login response; no API token, Bearer header or CSRF token is required.

Solution

  • The /api/ firewall now uses IS_AUTHENTICATED_REMEMBERED which is only assigned after 2FA. The historically used IS_AUTHENTICATED flag is applied immediately after login and before 2FA happened.
  • The APIVoter checks both $token instanceof TwoFactorTokenInterface and isGranted('IS_AUTHENTICATED_2FA_IN_PROGRESS', $user) to make sure that the user is not currently in the 2FA step.
  • Regression tests were added to prevent future escalation of the same issue.

See https://www.kimai.org/en/security/ghsa-v8hx-4vx8-wc96 for more information.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐘Packagistkimai/kimaiall versions2.59.0composer require kimai/kimai:^2.59.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency
  1. Detect

    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.

  2. Fix

    Update kimai/kimai to 2.59.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-v8hx-4vx8-wc96 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Summary Two-factor authentication (TOTP) can be fully bypassed for the REST API. The `KIMAI_SESSION` cookie returned in the response to the login request; issued after only the password is verified, before the TOTP step; is already accepted as authenticated by every `/api/*` endpoint. So after submitting just the password, the web UI correctly holds the browser at the TOTP screen (`/en/auth/2fa`), but the cookie from that same login response can be replayed against the API to act as the user without ever entering the second factor. This affects any account with 2FA enabled and requires on
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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Kimai: Pre-2FA KIMAI_SESSION cookie grants full…