Vikunja: Every /api/v2 pre-auth endpoint is unthrottled on a stock install while its /api/v1 twin is rate limited
CVE-2026-91972 · GHSA-6rvj-qwjf-3m4q · GO-2026-6721 · published 9 Oct 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 8.7 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-2026-91972?
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Who is affected
code.vikunja.io/api(Go) <= 2.5.0
How to check
- Run
go list -m code.vikunja.io/apiin your project to see the installed version, including copies pulled in by other packages. - 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.
- Upgrade
code.vikunja.io/apito 2.6.0 or later, commit the lockfile and redeploy. - If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
### Summary
`registerAPIRoutesV2` never applies the unconditional pre-auth rate-limit floor (`unauthRateLimit()`) to the v2 public routes — it passes that limiter only to `/api/v2/ws` — and otherwise relies on `setupRateLimit`, which registers nothing when `ratelimit.enabled` is false (the default). So on a stock install every v2 pre-auth endpoint (login, register, password-reset token, oauth token) is unthrottled, while its v1 twin is throttled.
### Details
`unauthRateLimit()` -> `perMinuteIPRateLimit("noauth", RateLimitNoAuthRoutesLimit)` (`pkg/routes/rate_limit.go`, ~lines 100-118) is an unconditional per-IP floor (default 10/60s) that deliberately ignores `RateLimitEnabled`, which is why v1's pre-auth routes are throttled even with the global limiter off. v1 applies it: `ur := a.Group(""); ur.Use(unauthRateLimit())` (`pkg/routes/routes.go` ~line 459). `registerAPIRoutesV2` (~lines 405-431) passes the `unauthRateLimit()` instance only to `/api/v2/ws`; its auth routes get only `setupRateLimit(a, ...)`, which is config-gated and registers nothing by default.
### PoC (verified at runtime against v2.5.0)
```
POST /api/v1/login x25 -> 429 from attempt 5
POST /api/v2/login x25 -> 403 x25, 429 x0
POST /api/v1/user/password/token -> 429 (throttled)
POST /api/v2/user/password/token x20 -> 404 x20, 429 x0
```
Request bodies are byte-identical across versions (shared `user.Login` / `user.PasswordTokenRequest`). Both v2 endpoints reach their handlers (403/404, not route-404), so the comparison is valid.
### Impact
The pre-auth rate-limit floor — the instance's only default anti-brute-force / anti-abuse control — is absent on all v2 public endpoints. Enables unbounded credential guessing, account-enumeration probing, and password-reset flooding on a default install. Reported as an authentication-control bypass, not a DoS.
### Fix
Apply `unauthRateLimit()` to the v2 public route group, matching v1.
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References
- github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/security/advisories/GHSA-6rvj-qwjf-3m4q
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-91972
- github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/releases/tag/v2.6.0
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/vikunja-before-2.6.0-authentication-bypass-via-unthrottled-api
- github.com/advisories/GHSA-6rvj-qwjf-3m4q
- github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja
Merged from GitHub Advisory Database, OSV. Last updated 24 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON