CVE-2026-52821 (GCVE-0-2026-52821)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-15 10:38 – Updated: 2026-09-17 14:20

Title

Kimai: Improper Authorization in Kimai Activity Creation with Preset Project Allows Creation Under Unauthorized Projects

Summary

Kimai is an open-source time tracking application. Prior to 2.57.0, GET or POST requests to /en/admin/activity/create/{project} and /en/admin/project/create/{customer} require only the generic create_activity or create_project capability and do not verify edit access to the supplied Project or Customer object. A user who knows a valid project.id or customer identifier can use the preset-parent creation logic in src/Controller/ActivityController.php or src/Controller/ProjectController.php to persist a new child business object under an unauthorized parent, polluting project or customer configuration and influencing later time-entry, rate, reporting, and billing behavior. This issue is fixed in version 2.57.0.

Severity

5.3 (Medium)


                        
                          CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

SSVC

Exploitation: none Automatable: yes Technical Impact: partial

CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)

Decision recorded 2026-09-17 14:20 UTC

CWE

CWE-639 - Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
CWE-862 - Missing Authorization

Assigner

GitHub_M mitre root

References

5 references

URL	Tags
https://github.com/kimai/kimai/security/advisorie…	x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/kimai/kimai/pull/5929	x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/kimai/kimai/commit/976d38e8a44…	x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/kimai/kimai/releases/tag/2.57.0	x_refsource_MISC
https://www.kimai.org/en/security/ghsa-3q6q-26vg-v97x	x_refsource_MISC

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version	CPE status
kimai	kimai	Affected: < 2.57.0	guessed

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

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          }
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        "id": "CVE-2026-52821",
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}

FKIE_CVE-2026-52821

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-09-15 11:17 - Updated: 2026-09-17 15:16

Severity

5.3 (Medium) - CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Summary

References

	URL	Tags
	security-advisories@github.com	https://github.com/kimai/kimai/commit/976d38e8a4485a1c923ee7b5841849e91a06e849
	security-advisories@github.com	https://github.com/kimai/kimai/pull/5929
	security-advisories@github.com	https://github.com/kimai/kimai/releases/tag/2.57.0
	security-advisories@github.com	https://github.com/kimai/kimai/security/advisories/GHSA-3q6q-26vg-v97x
	security-advisories@github.com	https://www.kimai.org/en/security/ghsa-3q6q-26vg-v97x

Impacted products

	Vendor	Product	Version

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "product": "kimai",
          "vendor": "kimai",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
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    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2026-52821",
  "lastModified": "2026-09-17T15:16:47.470",
  "metrics": {
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      "url": "https://github.com/kimai/kimai/pull/5929"
    },
    {
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com",
      "url": "https://github.com/kimai/kimai/releases/tag/2.57.0"
    },
    {
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com",
      "url": "https://github.com/kimai/kimai/security/advisories/GHSA-3q6q-26vg-v97x"
    },
    {
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com",
      "url": "https://www.kimai.org/en/security/ghsa-3q6q-26vg-v97x"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "security-advisories@github.com",
  "vulnStatus": "Received",
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-639"
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-862"
        }
      ],
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com",
      "type": "Secondary"
    }
  ]
}

GHSA-3Q6Q-26VG-V97X

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-07-14 00:03 – Updated: 2026-07-14 00:03

Summary

Kimai: Improper Authorization Through Activity Creation with Preset Project Allows Creation Under Unauthorized Projects

Details

Summary

Kimai 2.56.0 contains an authenticated improper authorization vulnerability in the preset-project activity creation flow. A user with the generic create_activity permission, but without access to a target project, can still create a new Activity under that unauthorized project by visiting the preset project creation route directly.

This is a persistent cross-project business-object creation issue. The attacker does not need permission to view or edit the target project and only needs to know a valid project.id.

Details

The issue affects the activity creation entry point that accepts a preset project identifier:

GET/POST /en/admin/activity/create/{project}
GET/POST /en/admin/project/create/{customer}

In src/Controller/ActivityController.php, the controller checks only the global capability to create activities and does not verify whether the current user is allowed to create an activity under the supplied Project object.

The form and repository path also preserve the preset project instead of rejecting it when the user lacks access. Because the preset project is merged into the candidate set, the final save operation can persist a new Activity under a project that is outside the attacker's authorized project scope.

The same logic applies to the src/Controller/ProjectController.php.

A PoC was provided, but removed for security reasons.

Impact

This vulnerability allows an authenticated user to inject new child business objects into projects outside their authorized scope. An attacker can pollute another team's project configuration, influence later timesheet selection and rate inheritance, and create conditions for downstream business abuse if other users start using the injected activity.

Solution

In ActivityController we now validate if the project can be edited with [IsGranted('edit', 'project')]
In ProjectController we now validate if if the customer can be edited with [IsGranted('edit', 'customer')]

See https://www.kimai.org/en/security/ghsa-3q6q-26vg-v97x

Severity

5.3 (Medium)


                  
                    CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "database_specific": {
        "last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 2.56.0"
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Packagist",
        "name": "kimai/kimai"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "2.57.0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-52821"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-639",
      "CWE-862"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-07-14T00:03:42Z",
    "nvd_published_at": null,
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "### Summary\n\nKimai 2.56.0 contains an authenticated improper authorization vulnerability in the preset-project activity creation flow. A user with the generic `create_activity` permission, but without access to a target project, can still create a new `Activity` under that unauthorized project by visiting the preset project creation route directly.\n\nThis is a persistent cross-project business-object creation issue. The attacker does not need permission to view or edit the target project and only needs to know a valid `project.id`.\n\n### Details\n\nThe issue affects the activity creation entry point that accepts a preset project identifier:\n\n- `GET/POST /en/admin/activity/create/{project}`\n- `GET/POST /en/admin/project/create/{customer}`\n\nIn `src/Controller/ActivityController.php`, the controller checks only the global capability to create activities and does not verify whether the current user is allowed to create an activity under the supplied `Project` object.\n\nThe form and repository path also preserve the preset project instead of rejecting it when the user lacks access.  Because the preset project is merged into the candidate set, the final save operation can persist a new `Activity` under a project that is outside the attacker\u0027s authorized project scope.\n\nThe same logic applies to the `src/Controller/ProjectController.php`.\n\n*A PoC was provided, but removed for security reasons.*\n\n### Impact\n\nThis vulnerability allows an authenticated user to inject new child business objects into projects outside their authorized scope. An attacker can pollute another team\u0027s project configuration, influence later timesheet selection and rate inheritance, and create conditions for downstream business abuse if other users start using the injected activity.\n\n# Solution\n\n- In `ActivityController` we now validate if the project can be edited with `[IsGranted(\u0027edit\u0027, \u0027project\u0027)]`\n- In `ProjectController` we now validate if if the customer can be edited with `[IsGranted(\u0027edit\u0027, \u0027customer\u0027)]`\n\nSee https://www.kimai.org/en/security/ghsa-3q6q-26vg-v97x",
  "id": "GHSA-3q6q-26vg-v97x",
  "modified": "2026-07-14T00:03:42Z",
  "published": "2026-07-14T00:03:42Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/kimai/kimai/security/advisories/GHSA-3q6q-26vg-v97x"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/kimai/kimai"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.kimai.org/en/security/ghsa-3q6q-26vg-v97x"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Kimai: Improper Authorization Through Activity Creation with Preset Project Allows Creation Under Unauthorized Projects"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
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Action not permitted

CVE-2026-52821 (GCVE-0-2026-52821)

FKIE_CVE-2026-52821

GHSA-3Q6Q-26VG-V97X

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