CVE-2023-26481

Insufficient user check in FlowTokens by Email stage

MEDIUM
6.5
CVSS Score
Published: March 4, 2023 at 12:30 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:43 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorAuthentik

Using authentik by goauthentik?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect authentik - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
MEDIUM6.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

authentik is an open-source Identity Provider. Due to an insufficient access check, a recovery flow link that is created by an admin (or sent via email by an admin) can be used to set the password for any arbitrary user. This attack is only possible if a recovery flow exists, which has both an Identification and an Email stage bound to it. If the flow has policies on the identification stage to skip it when the flow is restored (by checking `request.context['is_restored']`), the flow is not affected by this. With this flow in place, an administrator must create a recovery Link or send a recovery URL to the attacker, who can, due to the improper validation of the token create, set the password for any account. Regardless, for custom recovery flows it is recommended to add a policy that checks if the flow is restored, and skips the identification stage. This issue has been fixed in versions 2023.2.3, 2023.1.3 and 2022.12.2.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 2022.12.2v < 2022.12.3v < 2023.1.3v < 2023.2.32023.1.0 < v ≤ 2023.1.32023.2.0 < v ≤ 2023.2.3
Affected range stops below 2022.12.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2022.12.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2023.1.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2023.2.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-345

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card