CVE-2026-40172authentik: Privilege Escalation via User PATCH: Superuser Group Assignment Bypasses enable_group_superuser
- 8.1HighCVSS base score
- 0.55%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 54% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
authentik is an open-source identity provider. In versions prior to 2025.12.5 and 2026.2.0-rc1 through 2026.2.2, the PATCH /api/v3/core/users/{pk}/ API allows a caller with change_user on a target user to assign arbitrary groups through UserSerializer, including groups with is_superuser=True, without requiring enable_group_superuser, leading to privilege escalation. This bypasses the stricter permission model enforced in group-management paths and enables delegated user-management permissions to escalate target users to administrator-equivalent privilege. Users with permissions to update groups or permissions to update users are able to add themselves or other users they have permissions on to users which have superuser permissions. This issue has been fixed in versions 22025.12.5 and 2026.2.3.
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 43 days later
· 43 days later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High8.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | High8.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.55% · top 54% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.1.
Affected products
- affected < 2025.12.5
- affected >= 2026.2.0-rc1, < 2026.2.3
References
References3
- https://github.com/goauthentik/authentik/security/advisories/GHSA-h6x7-hjjc-wjc9 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/goauthentik/authentik/releases/tag/version%2F2025.12.5 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/goauthentik/authentik/releases/tag/version%2F2026.2.3 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-31489 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-40172)Record last updated .