GHSA-v7j5-vc4m-723w
Budibase has an Account Impersonation Issue — Chat Identity Link Hijacking via Missing Consent & CSRF
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| npm | @budibase/server | < 3.39.0 | 3.39.0 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Title
**Chat Identity Link Hijacking — Attacker Can Silently Map Their Slack/Discord Identity to Any Authenticated Budibase User's Account**
## Severity
**High** — CVSS 3.1: AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N = **7.3**
## Affected Product
- **Product:** Budibase
- **Version:** 3.37.2 (introduced in this version)
- **Component:** `packages/server/src/api/controllers/ai/chatIdentityLinks.ts`
- **Endpoint:** `GET /api/chat-links/:instance/:token/handoff`
## Vulnerability Type
- CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery
- CWE-284: Improper Access Control
---
## Vulnerability Description
`GET /api/chat-links/:instance/:token/handoff` is a **public endpoint** (no auth required) that performs a permanent, state-changing operation: it binds an external chat identity (Slack/Discord/MS Teams) to an authenticated Budibase user account, with **no consent UI and no CSRF protection**.
The session token in the URL is created **by the attacker** (from their own `/link` slash command) and embeds **the attacker's `externalUserId`**. When an authenticated Budibase victim visits the URL, their account is silently and permanently linked to the attacker's Slack/Discord identity. The server responds with `"Authentication succeeded."` — no indication of what was linked.
### Route Registration
```typescript
// packages/server/src/api/routes/chat.ts:22
router.get(
"/api/chat-links/:instance/:token/handoff",
controller.handoffChatLinkSession // registered in publicRoutes — zero auth middleware
)
```
### Vulnerable Controller (full function)
```typescript
// packages/server/src/api/controllers/ai/chatIdentityLinks.ts:61–110
export async function handoffChatLinkSession(
ctx: UserCtx<void, string, { instance: string; token: string }>
) {
const token = resolveToken(ctx.params.token)
const session = await sdk.ai.chatIdentityLinks.getChatIdentityLinkSession(token)
if (!session) {
throw new HTTPError("Link token is invalid or has expired", 400)
}
assertSessionMatchesInstance({ workspaceId: session.workspaceId, instance: ctx.params.instance })
if (!ctx.isAuthenticated) {
// Unauthenticated: set return URL cookie, redirect to login
// After login, same URL is visited again → attack completes silently
utils.setCookie(ctx,
`/api/chat-links/${ctx.params.instance}/${token}/handoff`,
"budibase:returnurl",
{ sign: false } // ← unsigned cookie, but not an open redirect
)
ctx.redirect("/builder/auth/login")
return
}
const currentGlobalUserId = getCurrentGlobalUserId(ctx)
const consumedSession = await sdk.ai.chatIdentityLinks.consumeChatIdentityLinkSession(token)
// ↓↓↓ THE VULNERABLE WRITE — no consent check, no CSRF token ↓↓↓
await sdk.ai.chatIdentityLinks.upsertChatIdentityLink({
provider: consumedSession.provider,
externalUserId: consumedSession.externalUserId, // ← ATTACKER's Slack ID
externalUserName: consumedSession.externalUserName,
teamId: consumedSession.teamId,
globalUserId: currentGlobalUserId, // ← VICTIM's Budibase user ID
linkedBy: currentGlobalUserId,
})
ctx.type = "text/html"
ctx.body = renderLinkSuccessPage() // ← "Authentication succeeded." — no disclosure to user
}
```
--
---
### Step 1 — Attacker triggers `/link` in Slack
Attacker types `/link` to the Budibase Slack bot. Budibase server creates a Redis session:
**Redis key:** `chatIdentityLinkSession:tok_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx`
**Redis value (exact structure from `ChatIdentityLinkSession` interface):**
```json
{
"token": "tok_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"tenantId": "acme",
"workspaceId": "ws_abc123",
"provider": "slack",
"externalUserId": "UA12345678",
"externalUserName": "attacker",
"teamId": "T_ACME_SLACK",
"createdAt": "2026-05-02T10:00:00.000Z",
"expiresAt": "2026-05-02T10:10:00.000Z"
}
```
Slack DM sent privately to attacker:
```
Link your Slack account to continue chatting with this agent.
https://budibase.company.com/api/chat-links/ws_abc123/tok_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/handoff
```
**Key observation:** This URL embeds the attacker's own `externalUserId` inside the token. The attacker has full control over which identity gets linked.
---
### Step 2 — Attacker forwards URL to victim
Attacker posts in the company Slack:
```
@admin please click this to connect your Budibase account for AI agent access:
https://budibase.company.com/api/chat-links/ws_abc123/tok_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/handoff
```
---
### Step 3 — Victim clicks link (authenticated)
**HTTP Request (victim's browser):**
```http
GET /api/chat-links/ws_abc123/tok_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/handoff HTTP/1.1
Host: budibase.company.com
Cookie: budibase:session=VICTIM_SESSION
```
**HTTP Response:**
```http
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Authentication succeeded</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Authentication succeeded.</p>
<script>
if (window.opener && !window.opener.closed) {
try { window.opener.focus(); window.close() } catch (error) {}
}
</script>
</body>
</html>
```
The victim sees "Authentication succeeded." with no mention of Slack, no mention of `attacker`, no mention of what capabilities were granted.
**CouchDB global-db document written immediately after (exact structure from `upsertChatIdentityLink`):**
```json
{
"_id": "chatidentitylink_acme_slack_T_ACME_SLACK_UA12345678",
"tenantId": "acme",
"provider": "slack",
"externalUserId": "UA12345678",
"globalUserId": "ro_global_us_VICTIM_ADMIN_ID",
"linkedAt": "2026-05-02T10:00:42.000Z",
"linkedBy": "ro_global_us_VICTIM_ADMIN_ID",
"externalUserName": "attacker",
"teamId": "T_ACME_SLACK",
"createdAt": "2026-05-02T10:00:42.000Z",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-02T10:00:42.000Z"
}
```
The mapping is now permanent. `externalUserId = UA12345678` (attacker) → `globalUserId = ro_global_us_VICTIM_ADMIN_ID` (victim).
---
### Step 4 — Attacker impersonates victim via AI agent
Attacker sends any message to the Budibase Slack bot from their own account (`UA12345678`).
The chat handler resolves the identity:
```typescript
// packages/server/src/api/controllers/webhook/chatHandler.ts:421
const existingLink = await sdk.ai.chatIdentityLinks.getChatIdentityLink({
provider: AgentChannelProvider.SLACK,
externalUserId: "UA12345678", // ← attacker's Slack ID
teamId: "T_ACME_SLACK",
})
// existingLink.globalUserId = "ro_global_us_VICTIM_ADMIN_ID"
const linkedUser = await getGlobalUser("ro_global_us_VICTIM_ADMIN_ID")
// All agent tool calls now execute with victim admin's permissions
```
The attacker can now ask the agent:
> "Show me all rows in the Customers table"
> "Trigger the 'Send Invoice' automation for customer ID 42"
> "What files are in the knowledge base?"
Each request runs with the victim admin's identity and permissions. The victim has no indication this is happening.
---
### Step 3b — Variant: Victim Not Yet Authenticated
If the victim is not currently logged in when they click the URL:
**HTTP Request:**
```http
GET /api/chat-links/ws_abc123/tok_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/handoff HTTP/1.1
Host: budibase.company.com
```
**HTTP Response:**
```http
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: /builder/auth/login
Set-Cookie: budibase:returnurl=%2Fapi%2Fchat-links%2Fws_abc123%2Ftok_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx%2Fhandoff; Path=/
```
After the victim logs in, the browser follows the return URL and the attack completes identically to Step 3.
---
---
## Remediation
### Minimum Fix — Add Consent Page
Convert the handoff to a two-step flow:
```
GET /api/chat-links/:instance/:token/handoff
→ Show consent page: "You are linking your Budibase account to
[externalUserName]'s Slack identity ([provider]).
This allows them to interact with AI agents as you. [Confirm] [Cancel]"
POST /api/chat-links/:instance/:token/handoff (with CSRF token)
→ Perform the upsertChatIdentityLink() write
```
Moving the write to `POST` removes it from `publicRoutes`, making Budibase's existing CSRF middleware apply automatically.
---
Credits,
Vishal Kumar B
https://github.com/VishaaLlKumaaRr
## References
- `packages/server/src/api/routes/chat.ts:22` — public route registration
- `packages/server/src/api/controllers/ai/chatIdentityLinks.ts:61–110` — full vulnerable controller
- `packages/server/src/sdk/workspace/ai/chatIdentityLinks.ts:135–165` — session creation (embeds attacker's externalUserId)
- `packages/server/src/sdk/workspace/ai/chatIdentityLinks.ts:202–247` — upsertChatIdentityLink (permanent write)
- `packages/server/src/api/controllers/webhook/chatHandler.ts:421` — identity resolution during agent message handling
- `packages/server/src/ai/tools/budibase/automations.ts` — automation trigger capability
- `packages/server/src/ai/tools/budibase/rows.ts` — row read/write capability
- `packages/types/src/sdk/chatIdentityLinks.ts` — session + link type definitions
- CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery
- CWE-284: Improper Access Control
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.