Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessAuthenticate as regular user
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ExploitSend crafted API request to Legal Hold plugin endpoint
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ExecutionBypass authorization check in ServeHTTP
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ImpactAccess or manipulate legal hold data
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization checks on every request
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires Mattermost Plugin Legal Hold version ≤1.1.4 installed and enabled. Attacker must be an authenticated Mattermost user. No victim interaction needed. Exploitation via direct API requests to plugin endpoints. |
| Impact | This represents a high-severity risk to organizations using Mattermost for compliance-sensitive communications. The CVSS score of 8.3 reflects high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), with network-based attack vector (AV:N) and low attack complexity (AC:L). The PR:L designation indicates any authenticated user can exploit this, not just administrators, significantly expanding the attack surface in multi-user environments. The ability to delete legal hold data (A:H) poses particular compliance risk, as organizations under legal preservation orders could face sanctions if data is destroyed. However, the requirement for authenticated access (PR:L) and lack of scope change (S:U) means exploitation requires valid credentials and remains contained within the vulnerable component. No EPSS score is available, but the authentication requirement reduces likelihood of mass exploitation compared to unauthenticated vulnerabilities. No public exploit code or CISA KEV listing exists, suggesting this remains a patch-priority issue rather than an emergency. Organizations with strong authentication controls and limited Mattermost user bases face lower practical risk, but those in regulated industries (legal, healthcare, finance) should treat this as critical due to compliance implications. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An authenticated attacker with a standard Mattermost user account crafts direct HTTP requests to the Legal Hold plugin's API endpoints, bypassing the normal user interface. Despite the plugin performing authorization checks, the ServeHTTP handler fails to halt processing after detecting insufficient permissions. The attacker enumerates legal hold cases through API calls, downloads preserved communications containing sensitive litigation or compliance data, modifies hold parameters to exclude specific data from preservation, or deletes entire legal hold datasets to obstruct investigations. In a corporate litigation scenario, a disgruntled employee with basic Mattermost access could destroy evidence subject to preservation orders, exposing the organization to legal sanctions. The low attack complexity and network accessibility mean any authenticated user can exploit this without specialized tools or techniques. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Apr 06, 2026
Authorization bypass in Mattermost Plugin Legal Hold versions <=1.1.4 allows authenticated attackers to manipulate legal hold data without proper permission validation. After failed authorization checks, the plugin continues processing requests instead of terminating them, enabling low-privileged authenticated users to access, create, download, and delete sensitive legal hold data through direct API calls. This represents a critical failure in access control enforcement for compliance-critical data. EPSS data not available; no confirmed active exploitation (CISA KEV) or public exploit code identified at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Organizations should immediately upgrade Mattermost Plugin Legal Hold to version 1.1.5 or later, which addresses the authorization enforcement failure in ServeHTTP. Administrators can update plugins through the Mattermost System Console under Plugin Management, or by manually replacing plugin files if using custom deployment methods. Until patching is completed, consider temporarily disabling the Legal Hold plugin if operationally feasible, particularly in environments where legal hold functionality is not actively required. Review audit logs for suspicious API activity targeting legal hold endpoints during the vulnerable period, looking for unauthorized access, modifications, or deletions by low-privileged users. Implement network-level access controls to restrict API endpoint access if disabling the plugin is not possible. Consult the official Mattermost security advisory at https://mattermost.com/security-updates (MMSA-2026-00621) for additional vendor-specific guidance and verification procedures.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability stems from CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), a critical access control flaw where an application performs an authorization check but fails to enforce the result. In the Mattermost Plugin Legal Hold, the ServeHTTP handler evaluates authorization but does not halt request processing when checks fail, allowing the request to proceed to sensitive operations. Legal hold functionality is designed to preserve data for compliance, litigation, or regulatory purposes, making unauthorized access particularly damaging. The plugin's API endpoints should implement fail-secure behavior where any authorization failure immediately terminates the request. The affected CPE (cpe:2.3:a:mattermost:mattermost:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*) indicates this impacts Mattermost server deployments using the vulnerable plugin versions. The CVSS vector (PR:L) confirms that exploitation requires low-privileged authenticated access, meaning any valid Mattermost user account could potentially exploit this flaw if they can craft API requests directly to plugin endpoints.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from Vendor (Mattermost) · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorVendor: Mattermost
DescriptionCVE.org
Mattermost Plugin Legal Hold versions <=1.1.4 fail to halt request processing after a failed authorization check in ServeHTTP which allows an authenticated attacker to access, create, download, and delete legal hold data via crafted API requests to the plugin's endpoints. Mattermost Advisory ID: MMSA-2026-00621
Executive ViewAI
Mattermost Plugin Legal Hold versions 1.1.4 and earlier contain an authorization bypass flaw that allows authenticated users with low privileges to access, modify, and delete sensitive legal hold data-records typically subject to strict compliance controls. This directly undermines data governance and regulatory compliance posture, potentially exposing organizations to audit failures, data integrity violations, and legal liability if exploited to tamper with legally-mandated retention records.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: (1) Restrict Plugin Legal Hold API endpoints to administrative user roles only via Mattermost access control lists or reverse proxy rules. (2) Enable and monitor audit logging for all legal hold API requests; alert on non-admin access attempts. (3) Implement network-level segmentation to limit which users and services can reach Legal Hold APIs. (4) Conduct immediate audit of legal hold data access and modification logs for the past 90 days to identify unauthorized changes. (5) Evaluate temporary disablement of the plugin if legal hold processing is not actively required until patch availability is confirmed.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
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EUVD-2026-19231
GHSA-h7g6-pq3g-f7cw
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB