GHSA-5m22-7pfq-vp65 CVE-2026-113649

ApostropheCMS: Import API bypasses publication roles for protected content

Medium npm

Severity: 6.5 / 10; Medium · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS): 0.30%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 22.53% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-862 Missing Authorization
Fix: Available; 2 packages have a fixed version

Description

Review scope and evidence limits

Package: @apostrophecms/import-export, version 3.7.0.

Release tag reviewed: @apostrophecms/import-export@3.7.0, commit 9500b8b0e1d630d5e07fbb5fd2c25ed0943845ce (September 30, 2026).

Current main reviewed: 5ce3732be0ebdebb4db0f8ef160c81e8671157e6.

The importer, gzip extractor, import permission gate, and core permission implementation have no differences between that release tag and the reviewed main. This follow-up is a static remediation review. We have not repeated the original end-to-end reproductions against the latest release or tested a deployed site. Current exploitability and impact therefore still require maintainer validation; the observations below establish that the reported security checks remain absent in public source. The original emailed PDF contains the original reproduction material.

Import API bypasses publication roles for protected content

The import gate in canImportOrExport() checks the type's import configuration and view permission. The write helpers then call document-manager insert/update directly, including operations on published variants. We did not find the normal publish permission check or beforePublish transition in these helpers. Core permissions intentionally distinguish editRole and publishRole, and the ordinary publication lifecycle enforces that distinction.

The reported security boundary is a content type that an editor may edit but whose publication is reserved for a stronger role. Direct public-state changes through import must enforce the same publication authority. The original report describes unauthorized creation, replacement, or removal of published content under that configuration.

Suggested remediation: centralize authorization for import writes; require publish permission for every non-autopublished published variant, authorize each concrete target, and preflight the complete import before persistent changes. Preserve authorized draft imports and the intended behavior of autopublished types.

Source references:

Coordination

Vivek R / Winfunc Original reporting team: Mufeed VH / Winfunc

Affected versions

npm

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
@apostrophecms/import-export	`< 3.7.1`	`3.7.1`
apostrophe	`< 4.34.0`	`4.34.0`

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

@apostrophecms/import-export npm → `3.7.1`

npm

npm install @apostrophecms/import-export@3.7.1

yarn

yarn add @apostrophecms/import-export@3.7.1

pnpm

pnpm add @apostrophecms/import-export@3.7.1

apostrophe npm → `4.34.0`

npm

npm install apostrophe@4.34.0

yarn

yarn add apostrophe@4.34.0

pnpm

pnpm add apostrophe@4.34.0

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 6.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Weakness

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

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

How to prevent it

Architecture and Design: 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) [REF-229] 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.
Architecture and Design: Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied 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 [REF-7].
Architecture and Design: 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 [REF-233] and the OWASP ESAPI Access Control feature [REF-45].
Architecture and Design: For web applications, make sure that the access control mechanism is enforced correctly at the server side on every page. Users should not be able to access any unauthorized functionality or information by simply requesting direct access to that page. One way to do this is to ensure that all pages containing sensitive information are not cached, and that all such pages restrict access to requests that are accompanied by an active and authenticated session token associated with a user who has the required permissions to access that page.
System Configuration, Installation: Use the access control capabilities of your operating system and server environment and define your access control lists accordingly. Use a "default deny" policy when defining these ACLs.

References

Advisories

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-113649

Packages

github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe

Timeline

Oct 20, 2026 Published
Oct 23, 2026 Last updated by the source
Oct 31, 2026 Latest EPSS score

Advisory	Severity	Why it's related
GHSA-86wm-68pq-5jwq ApostropheCMS: Unauthenticated resource exhaustion via pre-auth aposBigUpload processing in @apostrophecms/import-export	High	Also affects apostrophe
GHSA-653j-g8j7-gh54 ApostropheCMS: No Attempt Throttling on Authenticated Password-Change Endpoint Enables Unlimited Current-Password Guessing	Medium	Also affects apostrophe
GHSA-vwwx-px9w-crrc ApostropheCMS: Missing Authorization on Notification PATCH/DELETE Endpoints	Low	Also affects apostrophe
GHSA-vmxh-77cw-65j7 ApostropheCMS: Authenticated Object-Level Authorization Bypass in exist-in-locale Reveals Restricted Localized Draft Identifiers	Medium	Also affects apostrophe
GHSA-m2m5-rw3w-cwmj ApostropheCMS: Client-side Prototype Pollution in apos.http.parseQuery leading to DOM-based XSS against authenticated users	Medium	Also affects apostrophe
GHSA-gqh3-7856-rjjg ApostropheCMS: :_id/locales REST route omits the public-API authorization gate its sibling read routes enforce (unauthenticated doc-existence + locale metadata disclosure)	Medium	Also affects apostrophe
GHSA-hhvr-8m24-qqr3 ApostropheCMS: Cross-domain session token in URL confers session takeover	Medium	Also affects apostrophe
GHSA-j5rq-xfvr-p969 ApostropheCMS: Authenticated projection-exclusion prototype-member deletion in @apostrophecms/db-connect causes process-wide denial of service	High	Also affects apostrophe

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