Manager-to-Admin escalation via role parameter binding
Published Aug 16, 2026 · Updated Aug 16, 2026
Privilege escalation in OpenBoxes before 0.9.8 allows remote authenticated users to gain Admin access via user-management requests. In RoleInterceptor, user/save and user/update were gated only by the Manager-level changeActions prefix match, and UserController let Grails bind roles from request parameters onto the User object instead of forcing role changes through centralized authorization checks. Exploitation requires a Manager-role account and no user interaction; successful abuse can create or modify accounts with persistent administrative access inside the application.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in OpenBoxes before 0.9.8 allows remote authenticated users to gain Admin access via user-management requests. In RoleInterceptor, user/save and user/update were gated only by the Manager-level changeActions prefix match, and UserController let Grails bind roles from request parameters onto the User object instead of forcing role changes through centralized authorization checks. Exploitation requires a Manager-role account and no user interaction; successful abuse can create or modify accounts with persistent administrative access inside the application.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-19928
- Published
- Aug 16, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 16, 2026
- Vendor
- OpenBoxes
- Product
- OpenBoxes
- Classifications
- CWE-269, CWE-284, CWE-266, T1136
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 16, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 16, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0.9.0
- Affected versionversion=0.9.1
- Affected versionversion=0.9.2
- Affected versionversion=0.9.3
- Affected versionversion=0.9.4
- Affected versionversion=0.9.5
- Affected versionversion=0.9.6
- Affected versionversion=0.9.7
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
- OpenBoxes Privilege Escalation PoCfunctional · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo