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Yii2 Starter Kit EUVDEUVD-2026-90207

| CVE-2026-103476 MEDIUM
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (CWE-639)
2026-09-30 VulnCheck GHSA-75rg-6mfq-67qw
6.9
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: VulnCheck
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Attack ChainAIDerived

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

  1. Access
    Reach public attachment-download endpoint
  2. Exploit
    Enumerate sequential attachment IDs
  3. Execution
    Endpoint skips publication-status check
  4. Impact
    Download draft-article files unauthenticated

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Object-level authorization, IDOR prevention
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation targets the attachment-download endpoint in frontend/controllers/ArticleController.php of yii2-starter-kit through 4.2.0, which fails to verify the parent article's publication (draft/published) status before serving the file. The only prerequisite is network reachability of a deployed site running the vulnerable download action; no authentication, no user interaction, and no non-default configuration are required. Exploitation is aided by sequential/predictable attachment identifiers that allow enumeration. LIMITING FACTORS: impact is confined to reading attachment files of unpublished articles (confidentiality only - no write, modification, or DoS), and real-world exposure depends on a site actually being built from this starter kit with the vulnerable controller unmodified.

Impact

This is a genuine but moderate-severity information-disclosure flaw whose real-world risk is capped by both scope and prevalence. The signals are consistent rather than conflicting: the vendor CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N, 6.9) correctly reflects remote, network-based, unauthenticated exploitation with low complexity but only LOW confidentiality impact and zero integrity/availability impact - matching the description of an IDOR (CWE-639) that leaks draft-article attachment files. The 'unauthenticated' qualifier is confirmed by PR:N in the provided vector. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public POC are present in the input, so exploitation status is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis'; the flaw is trivially exploitable (sequential ID enumeration) but there is no evidence of active exploitation. The dominant risk-limiting factor is prevalence: yii2-starter-kit is a developer boilerplate/scaffolding project rather than a mass-deployed product, so exposure is confined to sites built on and shipped with the vulnerable ArticleController download logic. Net: a real, easy-to-exploit issue for affected deployments, but low aggregate risk versus a high-CVSS-but-widespread flaw. Note the vendor CVSS 4.0 base scores 6.9 while an equivalent CVSS 3.1 base lands around 5.3 (Medium); the difference is scoring-methodology, not a data conflict.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An unauthenticated attacker requests the public attachment-download endpoint (frontend/controllers/ArticleController.php) and iterates sequential attachment identifiers. Because the endpoint never checks the parent article's publication status, the server returns files attached to draft/unpublished articles, exposing embargoed or pre-release content. No POC is published in the provided sources, but exploitation requires only a scripted loop of HTTP GET requests.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.5% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 30, 2026

Unauthenticated information disclosure in the yii2-starter-kit application template through version 4.2.0 allows remote attackers to download file attachments that belong to unpublished (draft) articles by calling the attachment-download endpoint directly. The endpoint in frontend/controllers/ArticleController.php serves the requested file without verifying the publication status of the parent article, and because attachment identifiers are sequential and predictable, an attacker can enumerate them to harvest draft content; no credentials, user interaction, or non-default configuration are needed (CVSS:4.0 PR:N/UI:N, assessed as CVSS:3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N with C:L only). Impact is confined to reading draft attachments - there is no write, modification, or denial-of-service effect - and no public exploit code or confirmed active exploitation has been identified at time of analysis, so real-world risk depends mainly on whether a deployed site built from this starter kit leaves the vulnerable controller unmodified.

RemediationAI

No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis: the references point only to the project repository and issue https://github.com/yii-starter-kit/yii2-starter-kit/issues/797, with no fixed version, tagged release, or commit identified as the remediation, so sites must be treated as vulnerable until upstream publishes one. The most direct fix is in the application code: in frontend/controllers/ArticleController.php, load the parent article for the requested attachment and abort (404/403) unless its status is published and, where applicable, the attachment itself is marked public - this restores the intended authorization check and should be backported to every site built from the kit, since the kit is a template rather than a dependency. Compensating controls, each with trade-offs: replace sequential attachment identifiers with unguessable UUIDs or signed, expiring download URLs (requires a data/schema change and invalidates existing links embedded in content); add a Yii2 AccessControl or equivalent authorization filter to the download action so only authenticated users may fetch attachments (blocks anonymous downloads of legitimate published attachments too); or, as a stop-gap at the edge, block or rate-limit unauthenticated requests to the attachment-download route at the reverse proxy or WAF and log the requesting IP and attachment IDs to detect enumeration (also breaks public downloads of published files and may generate false positives on link prefetchers). Because the impact is read-only disclosure of draft attachments, priority should be weighted toward sites that store sensitive or pre-publication material; rotate or re-scope any draft content that may already have been enumerated, and monitor the advisory and issue 797 for an official patched release before applying any permanent route-level block.

Affected VersionsENISA

yii2-starter-kit 0 ≤4.2.0

Affected Packages

euvd yii2_starter_kit no fix

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

yii2-starter-kit is an open-source PHP application template built on the Yii2 MVC framework, commonly used as a starting point for content-driven sites with a frontend article and attachment model. The flaw is an instance of CWE-639 (Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key), a classic insecure direct object reference: the attachment-download action in frontend/controllers/ArticleController.php (the referenced commit cc2c451e highlights line 69) resolves an attachment by the client-supplied identifier and streams the file without first loading and checking the associated article's publication state. Because the action performs no ownership, role, or visibility check, authorization is effectively delegated to the attacker's choice of key, and sequential attachment IDs make that key space trivially enumerable. The reporter-supplied CPE cpe:2.3:a:yii2-starter-kit:yii2-starter-kit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* uses a wildcard version, so it does not itself encode the upper bound; the affected range (through 4.2.0) comes from the VulnCheck advisory. The reported CVSS 4.0 vector (6.9, AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N) and our independent CVSS 3.1 assessment (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N) agree that this is a network-reachable, unauthenticated, low-confidentiality-impact bug with no integrity or availability effect.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (VulnCheck) PRIMARY 6.9 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 5.3 MEDIUM

Remote unauthenticated enumeration of an endpoint with no interaction (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); only low-scope file disclosure so C:L, I:N, A:N.

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

Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).

CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck

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

DescriptionCVE.org

yii2-starter-kit through 4.2.0 fails to validate article publication status in the attachment-download endpoint, allowing unauthenticated attackers to download files from draft articles. Attackers can enumerate sequential attachment identifiers to retrieve files from unpublished articles without authentication or authorization checks.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.5%
Top 59% exploitable
Prevalence
Low
developer starter-kit/boilerplate for Yii2, niche footprint not mass-deployed
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 MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.5%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
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· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

35
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +1
CVSS: +34
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.

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