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Zammad EUVDEUVD-2026-87217

| CVE-2026-56733 HIGH
Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269)
2026-09-25 GitHub_M
8.7
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: GitHub_M
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Obtain restricted Zammad access token
  2. Delivery
    Send user-creation request via API
  3. Exploit
    Token restrictions overridden by parent account authority
  4. Execution
    Create new administrator account
  5. Persist
    Authenticate as new admin
  6. Impact
    Full control of instance data and config

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Least privilege enforcement
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 the attacker to already hold a valid but restricted/scoped Zammad access (API) token whose granular restrictions are intended to prevent administrative actions. Under this condition, the token's limits are overridden by the parent account's authorization authority during creation of new identity (user) objects, permitting creation of administrator accounts. Limiting factors: exploitation depends on possessing such a token (PR:L, not anonymous), the parent account backing the token must carry sufficient latent authority, and the instance must run a version prior to 7.0.2 / 7.1.0. No user interaction is required and the vector is network-reachable.

Impact

This is a genuine high-priority privilege-escalation flaw, not a high-CVSS-but-low-risk case. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N with VC:H/VI:H/VA:H, score 8.7) is internally consistent with the description: a network-reachable attacker holding only a low-privilege but valid access token can escalate to full administrator control, which is confirmed by both the vendor advisory (GHSA-p3mg-2jxr-hww2) and the patch commits. PR:L is well-supported - the attacker must already possess a restricted API token, so this is an authenticated escalation, not fully anonymous exploitation. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit code were provided, so exploitation status is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis' - treat as a patch-urgently item rather than an active-exploitation emergency. The commit diff and accompanying regression spec concretely confirm the root cause (stale @_user_on_behalf memoization allowing impersonation-state inheritance), which raises confidence that the flaw is real and reliably reproducible even though no weaponized POC is circulating. No key signals conflict; the main missing signals are EPSS/KEV/POC, whose absence lowers urgency but does not reduce the technical impact.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker who has obtained a scoped/restricted Zammad API access token (e.g., a token intended only for limited ticket operations) issues a request to create a new user identity. Because the restricted token's granular limits are overridden by the parent account's latent administrative authority during identity initialization, the attacker creates a brand-new administrator account, then logs in with it to seize full control of all tickets, customers, and configuration. No public exploit code was identified, but the fix commit ships a regression test that demonstrates the exact stale-impersonation condition.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 25, 2026

Improper privilege management in Zammad helpdesk/customer support systems allows an attacker holding a valid but deliberately restricted API token to create new administrator accounts, inheriting the latent authorization authority of the token's parent account instead of honoring the token's granular scope. This affects all Zammad releases prior to 7.0.2 and 7.1.0, and exploitation is authenticated (CVSS PR:L) since a scoped token must already be held, though no user interaction is required and the vector is network-reachable; success grants full access to tickets, customers, and configuration and effectively hands the attacker complete control of the instance. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and the issue is not listed as confirmed actively exploited (CISA KEV), but the independent assessment rates it a genuine high-priority privilege-escalation flaw rather than a high-CVSS-but-low-risk case, and EPSS-style risk is elevated by the trivial post-exploitation payoff.

RemediationAI

Apply the vendor-released patch by upgrading to Zammad 7.0.2 or 7.1.0 (whichever matches your release line), which contains the authorization-cascade and impersonation-state fixes described in advisory GHSA-p3mg-2jxr-hww2 and implemented in commits e50ef69beab897317caa5e9490edba33aa1ac978 and f059eb2d9835bdc2666750e805631f67ff485642. Where an immediate upgrade is not possible, treat any restricted or scoped API token as potentially privileged: revoke and rotate all such tokens and reissue them only after patching, accepting the operational disruption this causes to integrations and automation; audit the users table for unexpected administrator accounts created since the affected version was deployed, since the exploit path is precisely the creation of new admin identities, and remove or lock any unrecognized admin accounts. Additionally, temporarily restrict who may mint API tokens and review parent accounts backing existing tokens for excess latent authority, trading a reduction in self-service automation for a smaller escalation surface. Because exploitation requires possession of a valid scoped token rather than anonymity, tightening token issuance and monitoring admin-creation audit events are useful compensating controls, but they reduce rather than eliminate the risk and should not be treated as a substitute for upgrading to 7.0.2 or 7.1.0.

Affected VersionsENISA

Zammad < 7.0.2

Affected Packages

euvd zammad fix: 7.0.2

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

Zammad is a Ruby on Rails application, and the flaw lives in the authorization cascade implemented by the ApplicationController::HasUser concern, which resolves the effective current user for a request via token-based authentication and an optional 'user on behalf of' impersonation path driven by the From request header. A memoization defect in that concern meant the impersonation state variable (@_user_on_behalf) was only cleared when falsy, so a stale, truthy value set during an earlier set_user call could survive into a later current_user_set invocation for a different principal; combined with an ordering/authorization discrepancy in the identity-object initialization path (and a related authorize! call in the issue tracker integration controller), a scoped token could be evaluated under the broader authority of its parent account. The root cause class is CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management): the token's granular restrictions are silently overridden rather than enforced during creation of new user objects, so the intended separation of functional areas collapses and administrative discretion expands without bound. The upstream fix (commits e50ef69beab897317caa5e9490edba33aa1ac978 and f059eb2d9835bdc2666750e805631f67ff485642) explicitly resets @_user_on_behalf to nil in impersonate!, reorders the authorize! check in Integration::IssueTrackerController#query, and adds a regression spec (spec/controllers/application_controller/has_user_spec.rb) asserting that a stale on-behalf user is cleared so impersonation is re-evaluated for the new user, raising Exceptions::Forbidden when the From header is no longer permitted. The CPE entry cpe:2.3:a:zammad:zammad:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* reflects a version-range match rather than a discrete product SKU, consistent with a defect present across release branches.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (GitHub_M) PRIMARY 8.7 HIGH
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 8.8 HIGH

Network-reachable with a required restricted token (PR:L) and no user interaction; escalation to admin yields full confidentiality/integrity/availability impact, scope unchanged as it stays within the Zammad authorization authority.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (GitHub_M).

CVSS VectorVendor: GitHub_M

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
High
Vulnerable system: Integrity
High
Vulnerable system: Availability
High
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch available
Sep 25, 2026 - 18:19 EUVD
CVE Published
Sep 25, 2026 - 17:05 cve.org
HIGH 8.7

DescriptionCVE.org

Zammad is a web based open source helpdesk/customer support system. Prior to 7.0.2 and 7.1.0, this issue concerns a lack of discursive validation within the authorization cascade. It has been determined that the system-level enforcement of access restrictions during the initialization of new identity objects exhibits a discrepancy: Under specific conditions, the granular restrictions of the access key being used are overridden by the latent authorization authority of the parent account. Consequently, this means that the intended separation of functional areas is nullified, resulting in an uncontrolled expansion of administrative discretion. Due to this potential integrity breach of the entire trust environment, an immediate evaluation of the authorization hierarchies is imperative. Impact An attacker can create new administrator accounts despite token restrictions. This grants full access to all system data (tickets, customers, configuration) and allows the attacker to take complete control of the Zammad instance. Abuse Scenario The vulnerability stems from a lack of synergy between the token-based authorization logic and the target system's functional authorization hierarchy, which allows for iterative escalation of the privileged access context. This issue is fixed in versions 7.0.2 and 7.1.0.

Technical POC Analysis

Evidence base: the GitHub advisory GHSA-p3mg-2jxr-hww2 only.

Full technical POC analysis - root cause, step-by-step exploitation and patch breakdown - is part of the Pro and Business plans.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

Zammad helpdesk/customer support systems are affected by a high-severity privilege escalation flaw (CVE-2026-56733) that could allow an attacker with limited access to gain full administrative control. This poses a risk to sensitive customer data, operational continuity, and potentially regulatory compliance, as the attacker could access, modify, or exfiltrate tickets and configuration. As no patch is currently available, immediate mitigation is critical.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations include auditing and minimizing API token privileges, enforcing MFA for administrative accounts, restricting network access to Zammad instances, and monitoring for unauthorized admin account creation.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 83% exploitable
Prevalence
Low
niche self-hosted open-source helpdesk, limited enterprise footprint
Data Quality
6 sources
Confidence: High

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.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

44
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +44
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

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