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RBAC Bypass Leading to Unauthorized Workspace Variables Disclosure

High
igor-magun-wd published GHSA-8r8h-6vcc-xhrv Jul 29, 2026

Package

npm flowise (npm)

Affected versions

<= 3.1.2

Patched versions

3.1.3

Description

Finding — Unauthorized Workspace Variables disclosure via $vars injection (bypasses variables:view)

Severity: High (can be Critical if secrets are stored as Variables)
Class: Authorization bypass → sensitive data exposure
Likely CWE: CWE-200, CWE-862 / CWE-863

What’s wrong (code locations)

  • Variables for the active workspace are fetched without checking “variables:view” at this call site: flowise-src/
    packages/components/src/utils.ts:932
  • Runtime variables are resolved from server environment variables: flowise-src/packages/components/src/utils.ts:976
  • $vars is always injected into the code execution sandbox: flowise-src/packages/components/src/utils.ts:1782
  • The official Variables API is permission-protected (contrast): flowise-src/packages/server/src/routes/variables/
    index.ts:11

Why it is a privilege boundary bypass

A user/API key might be denied variables:view (and the /api/v1/variables route enforces it), but they can still:

  • call /api/v1/node-custom-function (Finding 1)
  • and have $vars pre-populated with all variables for the workspace, including runtime values from process.env

What data is exposed

Inside the custom JS context, $vars contains a flat map of:

  • Variable.name -> Variable.value for static variables, and
  • Variable.name -> process.env[Variable.name] for runtime variables (type === 'runtime')

This can expose secrets such as database passwords, JWT secrets, SMTP passwords, cloud keys, etc., depending on what
the workspace Variables are configured to map.

Recommended fix (minimum)

  • Do not inject $vars unless the caller is authorized:
    • enforce variables:view before injecting $vars, or
    • inject only an explicit allowlist of variables needed for the function
  • Consider disabling or heavily restricting type=runtime variables in self-hosted environments (or restrict which env
    keys may be mapped).

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required Low
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality High
Integrity None
Availability None
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVE ID

CVE-2026-70471

Weaknesses

No CWEs

Credits