high · 8.1 Patched

Nginx UI: OTP secure-session step-up can be bypassed via MCP configuration tools

CVE-2026-84360 · GHSA-vc32-4gwf-77xp · published 15 Oct 2026

How serious is it

  • Severity: high, CVSS score 8.1 out of 10.
  • No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
  • Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
  • No public exploit in Exploit-DB.

Is your app affected by CVE-2026-84360?

Paste this prompt into Claude Code, Cursor or any AI coding tool: it runs a free Shippable scan of your project and fixes what it finds. Built with Lovable, Bolt or v0? Scan your live app. Or upload your package file.

Who is affected

  • github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI (Go) < 1.9.10-0.20260703131214-23d1934099b0

How to check

  1. Run go list -m github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI in your project to see the installed version, including copies pulled in by other packages.
  2. Or paste your lockfile into the checker: it lists every package with a known vulnerability, this one included.

How to fix

Copies a prompt for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex: it checks your lockfiles for this and upgrades it.
  1. Upgrade github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI to 1.9.10-0.20260703131214-23d1934099b0 or later, commit the lockfile and redeploy.
  2. If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.

The advisory

### Summary An OTP-enabled authenticated user who cannot use the HTTP configuration mutation endpoints without a valid secure session can still mutate Nginx configuration through `/mcp` and `/mcp_message` using only ordinary authentication. ### Details The HTTP configuration mutation surface is explicitly grouped behind `middleware.RequireSecureSession()`. By contrast, the MCP endpoints are exposed with only `middleware.AuthRequired()`. The MCP server exposes configuration mutation tools including `nginx_config_add` and `nginx_config_modify`, so OTP-enabled users gain an alternate path around the intended step-up requirement. Relevant code paths: - [api/config/router.go](/home/kali/Desktop/bounty/nginx-ui/api/config/router.go:14) - [internal/middleware/secure_session.go](/home/kali/Desktop/bounty/nginx-ui/internal/middleware/secure_session.go:52) - [mcp/router.go](/home/kali/Desktop/bounty/nginx-ui/mcp/router.go:9) - [mcp/config/config_add.go](/home/kali/Desktop/bounty/nginx-ui/mcp/config/config_add.go:34) - [mcp/config/config_modify.go](/home/kali/Desktop/bounty/nginx-ui/mcp/config/config_modify.go:55) This is a security-control bypass rather than a missing feature. The product already established that OTP-enabled users should complete a secure session before high-impact configuration mutations are accepted on the HTTP path. ### PoC I verified this locally in an isolated environment with a temporary end-to-end harness that exercised the real `/mcp` and `/mcp_message` routes. What the executed test did: 1. Created a temporary config directory and configured Nginx control commands to harmless local values (`true`) to avoid touching the host. 2. Created a real OTP-enabled user in a temporary SQLite database. 3. Generated a real JWT for that OTP-enabled user. 4. Started a local test server exposing the real `/mcp` and `/mcp_message` routes. 5. Opened an authenticated SSE connection to `/mcp` with the JWT and no `X-Secure-Session-ID`. 6. Initialized the MCP session over `/mcp_message`. 7. Called the real `nginx_config_add` tool over `/mcp_message`. 8. Verified that the tool succeeded and created `mcp-bypass.conf` in the managed config directory without any secure-session step-up. Observed result from the actual local verification: - The MCP session initialized successfully without any `X-Secure-Session-ID`. - The config file was written through the MCP tool path using only JWT authentication. ### Impact OTP-enabled accounts lose the intended step-up protection for high-impact Nginx configuration changes when MCP is enabled. A user who should be blocked until re-authenticating can still create or modify configuration files and trigger reload behavior through MCP.

Check your whole app

Dependencies are only half of it. Free and read-only: before you push, run npx shippable-dev scan localhost:3000 in your project folder, no account needed. For your live app, you prove it's yours with a one-line tag first.

References

Merged from GitHub Advisory Database. Last updated 23 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON