Authenticated administrator escalation via unchecked role synchronization
Published Aug 14, 2026 · Updated Aug 14, 2026
Privilege escalation in Akaunting 3.1.21 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator access through profile updates. The UpdateUser job passes a user-supplied roles list to roles()->sync() without checking whether the caller can manage roles. The default update-auth-profile permission reaches this self-update path, allowing ordinary accounts to read, alter, or delete financial records.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Akaunting 3.1.21 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator access through profile updates. The UpdateUser job passes a user-supplied roles list to roles()->sync() without checking whether the caller can manage roles. The default update-auth-profile permission reaches this self-update path, allowing ordinary accounts to read, alter, or delete financial records.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-16772
- Published
- Aug 14, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 14, 2026
- Vendor
- Akaunting
- Product
- Akaunting
- Classifications
- CWE-862, CWE-269, T1098
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 14, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=3.1.21
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Self-service profile role-assignment requestproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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