Skip to content

GHSA-g2pf-ww5m-2r9m CVE-2026-33132 GO-2026-4751

Zitadel is missing enforcement of organization scopes

Medium Go
Severity
5.3 / 10
Medium · CVSS 3.1
Exploit chance (EPSS)
0.32%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 24.45% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited
No
Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness
CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization
Fix
4.12.3
Upgrade github.com/zitadel/zitadel to this version or later

Description

Summary

A vulnerability in Zitadel's OAuth2/OIDC interface, which allowed users to bypass organization enforcement during authentication.

Impact

Zitadel allows applications to enforce an organzation context during authentication using scopes (urn:zitadel:iam:org:id:{id} and urn:zitadel:iam:org:domain:primary:{domainname}). If enforced, a user needs to be part of the required organization to sign in.

While this was properly enforced for OAuth2/OIDC authorization requests in login V1, corresponding controls were missing for device authorization requests and all login V2 and OIDC API V2 endpoints. This allowed users to bypass the restriction and sign in with users from other organizations.

Note that this enforcement allows for an additional check during authentication and applications relying on authorizations / roles assignments are not affected by this bypass.

Affected Versions

Systems running one of the following versions are affected:

  • 4.x: 4.0.0 through 4.12.2 (including RC versions)
  • 3.x: 3.0.0 through 3.4.8 (including RC versions)

Patches

The vulnerability has been addressed in the latest releases. The patch resolves the issue by validating the provided scopes and enforcing the organization existence when processing the authorization request. Additionally it will prevent the use of a session of a user which does not belong to the required organization on the OIDC service endpoints (CreateCallback and Authorize or Deny Device Authorization endpoints).

4.x: Upgrade to >=4.12.3 3.x: Update to >=3.4.9

Workarounds

The recommended solution is to upgrade to a patched version.

Questions

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at security@zitadel.com

Credits

Thanks to @motoki317 for reporting this vulnerability.

Affected versions

Go

PackageVulnerableFixed in
github.com/zitadel/zitadel
>= 4.0.0-rc.1, < 4.12.3
4.12.3
github.com/zitadel/zitadel
>= 3.0.0-rc.1, < 3.4.9
3.4.9
github.com/zitadel/zitadel
< 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260317120401-d90285929ca0
1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260317120401-d90285929ca0

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/zitadel/zitadel Go → 4.12.3

go
go get github.com/zitadel/zitadel@v4.12.3 && go mod tidy

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.1 5.3

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

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

Weakness

CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization

The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.

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

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Last updated by the source
  3. Latest EPSS score
AdvisorySeverityWhy it's related
GHSA-fgmf-7rf8-m6vf
ZITADEL: Actions V1 sandbox escape: host file read via require()
High Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
GHSA-9993-rfwp-rhwf
ZITADEL: MFA bypass via session reuse in Login V2
High Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
GHSA-v859-c572-qh5p
ZITADEL: Improper Role Revocation on Granted Projects during Multiple Role Deletions
Medium Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
GHSA-jq8w-8q2f-ffm9
ZITADEL Users Can Self-Verify Email/Phone via API
High Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
GHSA-vrh8-c9cm-wh8v
ZITADEL: Unauthorized Token Privilege Escalation in OAuth2 Token Exchange
High Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
GHSA-992q-9gwp-7r79
ZITADEL: Auto-linking by email: IdP-side email verification is not checked
Medium Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
GHSA-v77h-2w3m-94hx
ZITADEL: Missing Token Expiration (`exp`) Validation in JWT IdP Provider
Medium Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
GHSA-g5h5-m4hm-xjrr
ZITADEL: Missing Token Audience Validation (`aud`) in JWT IdP Provider
Medium Also affects github.com/zitadel/zitadel
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