Improper authorization control for web services In open-webui
Description
Open WebUI Missing Access Check on Channel Members Endpoint for Standard Channels
Missing Access Check on Channel Members Endpoint for Standard Channels
Affected Component
Channel members listing endpoint:
backend/open_webui/routers/channels.py (lines 445-507, get_channel_members_by_id)
Affected Versions
Current main branch and likely all versions with the channels feature.
Description
The GET /api/v1/channels/{id}/members endpoint only checks membership for group and dm channel types (lines 467-469). For standard channels — including private ones — there is no channel_has_access check before returning the member list. Any authenticated user who knows a private channel's UUID can enumerate all users with access to that channel.
# Line 467-469: only group/dm channels are checked if channel.type in ['group', 'dm']: if not Channels.is_user_channel_member(channel.id, user.id, db=db): raise HTTPException(...) # Standard channels fall through with NO access check
Compare with other channel endpoints (e.g., get_channel_messages at line 688) which correctly call channel_has_access(user.id, channel, permission='read') for standard channels.
CVSS 3.1 Breakdown
Metric | Value | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
Attack Vector | Network (N) | Exploited remotely via API call |
Attack Complexity | Low (L) | Single API call, no special conditions |
Privileges Required | Low (L) | Requires a valid user account |
User Interaction | None (N) | No victim interaction required |
Scope | Unchanged (U) | Impact is within the channel authorization boundary |
Confidentiality | Low (L) | Leaks user identities and details for a private channel |
Integrity | None (N) | No data modification |
Availability | None (N) | No denial of service |
Attack Scenario
Attacker obtains a private standard channel's UUID (via logs, browser history, URL observation, or other API responses).
Attacker calls GET /api/v1/channels/{id}/members.
The server returns the full list of permitted users including their IDs, names, emails, roles, and profile images.
The attacker has no access to the channel's messages (those endpoints check access correctly), but now knows exactly who does.
Impact
Leaks the identity and personal details of every user with access to a private channel
Reveals organizational structure and project assignments
Enables targeted social engineering against channel members
Preconditions
Channels feature must be enabled (disabled by default)
Attacker must know the channel UUID (not guessable, but obtainable through indirect means)
Mitigation
Update Impact
Minimal update. May introduce new vulnerabilities or breaking changes.
Ecosystem | Package | Affected version | Patched versions |
|---|---|---|---|
pypi | open-webui | 0.9.0 |
Aliases
References