CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-43912NVD status: Analyzed

vaultwarden: Improper Authorization

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-43912 is a high-severity improper authorization vulnerability in vaultwarden from Dani-garcia, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.7 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an attacker with administrator privileges, without any action from a user. Affected vaultwarden versions: < 1.35.5. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.29% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Check which version of vaultwarden you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
  2. Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
Dani-garciavaultwarden< 1.35.5Not stated

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
HighAdministrator-level access is required first.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
ChangedThe attack can reach beyond the vulnerable component into other systems.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
NoneAvailability is not affected.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N. Scored by CNA (github.com).

Official description

Vaultwarden is a Bitwarden-compatible server written in Rust. Prior to 1.35.5, Vaultwarden does not enforce that a groups_users.users_organizations_uuid entry belongs to the same organization as groups.groups_uuid, or a collections_groups.collections_uuid entry belongs to the same organization as collections_groups.groups_uuid. Multiple organization group-management endpoints accept arbitrary MembershipId and CollectionId values and persist them directly without verifying org consistency. This lets an attacker who is Admin in Organization A, and only a low-privileged member in Organization B bind their Org B membership UUID into an Org A group, then use that foreign group relationship to gain unauthorized access to Org B vault data. With an accessAll=true Org A group, the attacker can make /api/sync and /api/ciphers enumerate Org B ciphers. Once those unauthorized sync results reveal Org B collection IDs, the attacker can also bind those foreign collection IDs to the Org A group and turn the same flaw into write access over Org B items. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.35.5.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Improper Authorization

The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries. Note that this approach may not protect against horizontal authorization, i.e., it will not protect a user from attacking others with the same role.
  • Ensure that you perform access control checks related to your business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that you apply to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records. For example, a database may restrict access for medical records to a specific database user, but each record might only be intended to be accessible to the patient and the patient's doctor.
  • Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid. For example, consider using authorization frameworks such as the JAAS Authorization Framework and the OWASP ESAPI Access Control feature.

More Improper Authorization vulnerabilities (CWE-285)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: poc, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Other vulnerabilities in vaultwarden

All vaultwarden vulnerabilities

Recent Improper Authorization vulnerabilities

Spotted an error? Tell us.