Skip to content

GHSA-7526-j432-6ppp CVE-2026-35607 GO-2026-5205

File Browser: Proxy auth auto-provisioned users inherit Execute permission and Commands

High Go
Severity
8.1 / 10
High · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS)
0.38%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 32.37% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management
Fix
2.63.1
Upgrade github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/v2 to this version or later

Description

Summary

The fix in commit b6a4fb1 ("self-registered users don't get execute perms") stripped Execute permission and Commands from users created via the signup handler. The same fix was not applied to the proxy auth handler. Users auto-created on first successful proxy-auth login are granted execution capabilities from global defaults, even though the signup path was explicitly changed to prevent execution rights from being inherited by automatically provisioned accounts.

Confirmed on v2.62.2 (commit 860c19d).

Root Cause

auth/proxy.go createUser() applies defaults without restriction:

user := &users.User{
    Username:     username,
    Password:     hashedRandomPassword,
    LockPassword: true,
}
setting.Defaults.Apply(user)
// No restriction on Execute, Commands, or Admin

Compare with http/auth.go signup handler (lines 170-178):

d.settings.Defaults.Apply(user)
user.Perm.Admin = false
// Self-registered users should not inherit execution capabilities
// from default settings, regardless of what the administrator has
// configured as the default.
user.Perm.Execute = false
user.Commands = []string{}

The commit message for b6a4fb1 states: "Execution rights must be explicitly granted by an admin." Users auto-created via proxy auth are also automatically provisioned (created on first login without explicit admin action), and the admin has not explicitly granted them execution rights.

PoC

Tested on filebrowser v2.62.2, built from HEAD.

# Configure with proxy auth, default commands, and exec
filebrowser config set --auth.method=proxy --auth.header=X-Remote-User \
  --commands "git,ls,cat,id"

# Login as admin and verify defaults have execute=true, commands set
ADMIN_TOKEN=$(curl -s http://HOST/api/login -H "X-Remote-User: admin")

# Auto-create new user via proxy header
PROXY_TOKEN=$(curl -s http://HOST/api/login -H "X-Remote-User: newproxyuser")

# Check permissions
curl -s http://HOST/api/users -H "X-Auth: $ADMIN_TOKEN" | jq '.[] | select(.username=="newproxyuser") | {execute: .perm.execute, commands}'

Result:

{
  "execute": true,
  "commands": ["git", "ls", "cat", "id"]
}

The auto-created proxy user inherited Execute and the full Commands list. A user created via signup would have execute: false and commands: [].

Impact

In proxy-auth deployments where the admin has configured default commands, users auto-provisioned on first proxy login receive execution capabilities that were not explicitly granted. The project established a security invariant in commit b6a4fb1: automatically provisioned accounts must not inherit execution rights from defaults. The proxy auto-provisioning path violates that invariant.

This is an incomplete fix for GHSA-x8jc-jvqm-pm3f ("Signup Grants Execution Permissions When Default Permissions Includes Execution"), which addressed the signup handler but not the proxy auth handler.

Preconditions

  • Proxy auth enabled (--auth.method=proxy)
  • Exec not disabled
  • Default settings include non-empty Commands (admin-configured)

Suggested Fix

Apply the same restrictions as the signup handler:

setting.Defaults.Apply(user)
user.Perm.Admin = false
user.Perm.Execute = false
user.Commands = []string{}

Update: Fix submitted as PR #5890.

Affected versions

Go

PackageVulnerableFixed in
github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
all versions
No fix yet
github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/v2
< 2.63.1
2.63.1

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.

github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/v2 Go → 2.63.1

go
go get github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser/v2@v2.63.1 && go mod tidy

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 8.1

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

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

Weakness

CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management

The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

How to prevent it
  • Architecture and Design, Operation: Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
  • Architecture and Design: Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
  • Architecture and Design: Consider following the principle of separation of privilege. Require multiple conditions to be met before permitting access to a system resource.

References

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-833g-cqhp-h72j
File Browser: Share API exposes the password hash and bypass token
Low Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
GHSA-83xp-526h-j3ww
File Browser: Archive builder turns backslash filenames into path traversal (zip-slip)
Medium Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
GHSA-7rc3-g7h6-22m7
File Browser: Colliding username normalization gives two users the same home directory
High Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
GHSA-8wc8-hf36-mjh9
File Browser: ScopedFs follows a dangling symlink on write, letting a scoped user create files outside their scope
Medium Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
GHSA-fmm7-x4gx-8jhr
File Browser: Out-of-scope file deletion by a Create-only scoped user via symlink-following RemoveAll in upload failure-cleanup
High Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
GHSA-xqp3-jq6g-x3qm
File Browser: Authentication Bypass via Proxy Auth Header Forgery
Critical Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
GHSA-m93h-4hw7-5qcm
File Browser: Command Injection via Authentication Hook Shell Substitution (Pre-Authentication RCE)
Critical Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
GHSA-8c9q-7855-wfxq
File Browser has a Command Execution Allowlist Bypass via Shell Metacharacter Injection
High Also affects github.com/filebrowser/filebrowser
Is this in your code?

MergeHarbor checks every repository's dependencies against this database, ranks what matters by exploitability and reachability, routes it to the owning team and opens the fix pull request.

Check your repos with MergeHarbor