Automad Broken Access Control: unauthenticated exposure of administrator bcrypt password hashes and TOTP secrets via public API endpoint

published 2026-05-27 5 mo ago modified 2026-10-26 13 d ago also GHSA-xm76-r88j-vm3g , EUVD-2026-32980

cvss: 7.5; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.4%; EPSS 1.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 72%
public exploits: 0; none known, plus a Nuclei check

Automad is a flat-file content management system and template engine. From 2.0.0-alpha.1 to 2.0.0-beta.27, a Broken Access Control vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to retrieve the bcrypt password hash of every administrator account with a single POST request. The /_api/user-collection/create-first-user setup endpoint remains publicly accessible once initial configuration is complete and returns full serialized user data in the JSON response body. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.0.0-beta.28.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

packagist automad/automad 2.0.0-beta.28

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: Proof of concept is public
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 5 mo ago (2026-05-30)

Exploit prediction

1.42% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 72% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

Nuclei template Automad < 2.0.0-beta.28 - Unauthenticated Admin Password Hash Disclosure nuclei detection template
github.com https://github.com/marcantondahmen/automad/security/advisories/GHSA-xm76-r88j-vm3g referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
GitHub	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
packagist	automad/automad	>=2.0.0-alpha.1, <2.0.0-beta.28	2.0.0-beta.28

Affected products

marcantondahmen automad

Classification

Weakness

CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
CWE-306 Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality

References

github.com /marcantondahmen/automad/security/advisories/GHSA-xm76-r88j-vm3g
exploit, web
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45332
advisory
github.com /marcantondahmen/automad
package

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary