GHSA-w39f-h553-h2mx
Vikunja: Cross-tenant task-position rows can be injected into arbitrary project views via the unvalidated project_view_id in the task position endpoint (v1 and v2)
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | code.vikunja.io/api | < 2.6.0 | 2.6.0 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
## Summary
The task-position endpoint authorizes only the task side of the write: `TaskPosition.CanUpdate` delegates to `Task.CanUpdate` (write access to the task's own project) and the request body's `project_view_id` is never validated to belong to the task's project, nor is any access to that view required. Any authenticated user with a single writable task of their own can persist `(task_id, project_view_id, position)` rows into any other tenant's project view (view IDs are small sequential integers and enumerable). Low position values (below `MinPositionSpacing`, 0.01) enter the recalculation branch, but `RecalculateTaskPositions` aborts on its own project read-access check before recalculating and the whole transaction rolls back, so no cross-tenant recalculation actually executes — only the plain row insert (position ≥ 0.01) persists. This is the same root-cause pattern as GHSA-569v-q83c-3j3g (kanban bucket relocation via project_view_id mass-assignment, fixed with a dual-side check for buckets in 2.4.0) surviving in the sibling position endpoint. Verified on Vikunja 2.5.0.
## Details
Affected endpoints (both verified):
- v1: `POST /api/v1/tasks/{id}/position`
- v2: `PUT /api/v2/tasks/{id}/position`
Root cause in `pkg/models/task_position.go`:
- `CanUpdate` (lines 61-64) checks only `Task.CanUpdate` — i.e. the caller's write access to the task's own project.
- `updateTaskPosition` (lines 174-232) upserts `(task_id, project_view_id, position)` directly; there is no check that the view belongs to the task's project and no access check on the view's project.
- `ProjectViewID` is body-bindable (`json:"project_view_id"`, no readOnly/param restriction, line 42).
Contrast with the fixed sibling: the bucket-move endpoint (`POST /projects/{project}/views/{view}/buckets/{bucket}/tasks`, `pkg/models/kanban_task_bucket.go:53-68`) validates both the bucket and the task after the GHSA-5pg6/GHSA-569v family fixes — the position endpoint was never given the equivalent view-side check.
Observed behavior (two independent verification runs): an attacker with zero access to the victim project receives `200 {"task_id": ..., "project_view_id": <victim view>, "position": ...}` on both v1 and v2, and the row is persisted (verified directly in the `task_positions` table: rows for the victim view went 0 to 1). Positioning the victim's own task is correctly refused with 403, isolating the missing view-side check. The victim's listings do not surface the foreign task (no confidentiality impact demonstrated), and a low-position (< 0.01) injection enters the recalculation branch but `RecalculateTaskPositions` returns 403 (`getRelevantProjectsFromCollection` → `CanRead` on the victim project) before any recalculation runs, rolling the whole request back — so the low-position variant persists nothing and never rewrites the victim's ordering.
## PoC
Steps use the owner of the victim project (token `$OWNER`) and an attacker with only their own project (token `$ATTACKER`). All requests were executed against a local Vikunja 2.5.0 instance.
1. Owner creates a private project (default views included) and lists its views to obtain a victim view ID:
```
curl -X PUT "$BASE/api/v1/projects" -H "Authorization: Bearer $OWNER" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"title":"victim"}'
# -> {"id":200,...}
curl "$BASE/api/v1/projects/200/views" -H "Authorization: Bearer $OWNER"
# -> [{"id":771,"view_kind":"kanban",...}, ...] # remember VIEW=771
```
2. Attacker creates their own project and a task in it:
```
curl -X PUT "$BASE/api/v1/projects" -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATTACKER" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"title":"attacker"}'
# -> {"id":201,...}
curl -X PUT "$BASE/api/v1/projects/201/tasks" -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATTACKER" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"title":"evil"}'
# -> {"id":105,...}
```
3. Baseline — attacker positions their task in their own view (succeeds, expected):
```
curl -X POST "$BASE/api/v1/tasks/105/position" -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATTACKER" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"project_view_id": <OWN_VIEW>, "position": 100}'
# -> 200
```
4. Mutation — attacker writes their task's position into the victim's view (no access to it whatsoever):
```
curl -X POST "$BASE/api/v1/tasks/105/position" -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATTACKER" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"project_view_id": 771, "position": 100}'
# -> 200 {"task_id":105,"project_view_id":771,"position":100}
curl -X PUT "$BASE/api/v2/tasks/105/position" -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATTACKER" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"project_view_id": 771, "position": 101}'
# -> 200 (v2 twin behaves identically)
```
5. Control — attacker positioning the victim's own task is correctly refused (the task-level gate works; only the view side is missing):
```
curl -X POST "$BASE/api/v1/tasks/<VICTIM_TASK>/position" -H "Authorization: Bearer $ATTACKER" \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"project_view_id": 771, "position": 1}'
# -> 403 Forbidden
```
6. Persistence proof — the cross-tenant row exists in the database:
```
docker exec <db> psql -U vikunja -d vikunja -t -A -c \
"SELECT task_id, position FROM task_positions WHERE project_view_id=771 AND task_id=105;"
# -> 105|100 (row for the attacker's task inside the victim's view namespace)
```
Observed result: steps 4 and 6 succeed — a `task_positions` row `(attacker_task, victim_view)` is created and persisted; step 5 is refused with 403. Note: `"position": 1` is above `MinPositionSpacing` (0.01), so it never enters the recalculation branch — it is a plain upsert. A position < 0.01 does enter the branch but is refused with 403 and rolled back (see Impact).
## Impact
**Impact summary:** a genuine broken-object-level-authorization defect (CWE-639) with no demonstrated confidentiality, integrity, or availability impact. The injected rows are invisible to the victim (view listings filter by project), order-preserving (any position collision is respaced between the same neighbours), and self-healing (any legitimate recalculation of the view deletes and rebuilds all its position rows). No read access, no privilege gain, no data destruction, and no usable DoS. Rated **low** — the fix is defense-in-depth, and its main value is preventing this wrong-object authorization from becoming a real cross-tenant leak should any future read path join `task_positions` without re-checking task-project access.
Broken object-level authorization on the write side (CWE-639, CWE-863: the authorization decision uses one resource dimension — the task — while the write targets another — the view). Any authenticated user holding a single writable task can persist rows into any other tenant's view state instance-wide (view IDs sequential and enumerable). The recalculation/lock path is not usable cross-tenant: a low position (< 0.01) enters the branch but `RecalculateTaskPositions` fails its own project read-access check and rolls back before recalculating (on MySQL/PostgreSQL a `FOR UPDATE` lock on the view row is taken one statement earlier in the same transaction, but released immediately on that rollback; SQLite takes no lock), so there is no meaningful availability angle. No confidentiality breach was demonstrated (victim listings filter by project), and the pollution is recoverable. Suggested fix: in `CanUpdate` or before the upsert, load the view by `tp.ProjectViewID` and require `view.ProjectID == task.ProjectID` (and/or caller access to the view's project), mirroring the bucket-side fix for GHSA-569v.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/security/advisories/GHSA-w39f-h553-h2mx
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-91984
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/pull/3688
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/commit/077dc4de79ce6f1ab59215a2c7bf9b30423685f2
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/releases/tag/v2.6.0
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/vikunja-before-2.6.0-broken-object-level-authorization-via-task-position