GHSA-gqh3-7856-rjjg
ApostropheCMS: :_id/locales REST route omits the public-API authorization gate its sibling read routes enforce (unauthenticated doc-existence + locale metadata disclosure)
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm | apostrophe | < 4.33.0 | 4.33.0 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Summary
The REST route `GET /api/v1/<piece-type>/:_id/locales` (and the equivalent page route) does not apply the `publicApiCheckAsync` gate that ApostropheCMS's other read routes enforce. An unauthenticated caller can therefore query this route for any document `_id` and learn whether the document exists and which locales it is published in — a document-existence and locale-metadata disclosure that the read-API is otherwise supposed to gate.
## Affected
- Repository: `apostrophecms/apostrophe` (monorepo package `apostrophe`).
- Confirmed at **4.32.2** (commit `d3ff8c9` == the shipped 4.32.2; unchanged at current HEAD). No fix at time of report.
- Stack: Node.js / Express + MongoDB.
- Endpoints: `GET /api/v1/<piece-type>/:_id/locales` and `GET /api/v1/@apostrophecms/page/:_id/locales`.
## Technical detail
- Unsafe: `modules/@apostrophecms/piece-type/index.js:397` registers the `:_id/locales` route with **no** `publicApiCheckAsync`. The page module has the same omission at `modules/@apostrophecms/page/index.js:925`.
- Gated siblings: the read routes in the same module (e.g. `getAll` at `piece-type/index.js:256-263`) call `publicApiCheckAsync` (`:263`) to enforce the public-API access policy.
- So the `locales` handler (which calls `getLocales()` for the document) runs for any caller regardless of the public-API gate the other read routes apply, returning the document's locale/publication metadata without authorization.
## Impact
An unauthenticated caller can confirm the existence of a document by `_id` and enumerate its locales/publication state — information the read-API is meant to gate. Defensibly 4.3 (AC:H) given the opaque `_id` precondition (the caller needs a document id).
## How it was verified (local only)
Reproduced against `[email protected]` (== commit `d3ff8c9`) locally with synthetic content:
- Source review confirmed the `:_id/locales` route lacks `publicApiCheckAsync` while the sibling read routes have it.
- An **unauthenticated** `GET /api/v1/<piece-type>/<_id>/locales` returned the document's locale metadata (existence + locales), while the gated read routes (e.g. `getAll`) correctly required the public-API policy.
- Control: the same route with the `publicApiCheckAsync` gate added (matching the siblings) denies the unauthenticated request — isolating the missing gate as the cause.
Synthetic content only; nothing hosted was touched.
## Remediation
Add the `publicApiCheckAsync` (or equivalent) authorization gate to the `:_id/locales` route in both the piece-type and page modules, matching the sibling read routes, so the locale/existence metadata is only returned to callers permitted by the public-API policy.
## Credit
Please credit **Santosh Kumar Puppala** (https://github.com/Santoshkumarpuppala).
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe/security/advisories/GHSA-gqh3-7856-rjjg
- https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe/commit/9500b8b0e1d630d5e07fbb5fd2c25ed0943845ce
- https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe/commit/f84fd41cbf6c22eb8d0008fc9c25df1f7130b350
- https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe
- https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe/releases/tag/[email protected]