Vikunja Vulnerable to TOTP Brute-Force Due to Non-Functional Account Lockout

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

5.9 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2026-35597: 0.30% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 22.38 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary The TOTP failed-attempt lockout mechanism is non-functional due to a database transaction handling bug. The account lock is written to the same database session that the login handler always rolls back on TOTP failure, so the lockout is triggered but never persisted. This allows unlimited brute-force attempts against TOTP codes. Details When a TOTP validation fails, the login handler at pkg/routes/api/v1/login.go:95-101 calls HandleFailedTOTPAuth and then unconditionally rolls back: HandleFailedTOTPAuth at pkg/user/totp.go:201-247 uses an in-memory counter (key-value store) to track failed attempts. When the counter reaches 10, it calls user.SetStatus(s, StatusAccountLocked) on the same database session s. Because the login handler always rolls back after a TOTP failure, the StatusAccountLocked write is undone. The in-memory counter correctly increments past 10, so the lockout code executes on every subsequent attempt, but the database write is rolled back every time. Proof…

Published by the source

10 Apr 2026, 15:34 UTC

Last modified by the source

10 Apr 2026, 19:36 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:19 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-fgfv-pv97-6cmj

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-35597

Advisory: Vikunja Vulnerable to TOTP Brute-Force Due to Non-Functional Account Lockout
IDs: CVE-2026-35597, GHSA-fgfv-pv97-6cmj
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-35597 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:19 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.9)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: code.vikunja.io/api 2.3.0. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go code.vikunja.io/api: affected <= 2.2.2; fixed in 2.3.0

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go code.vikunja.io/api: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on code.vikunja.io/api.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-fgfv-pv97-6cmj (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-fgfv-pv97-6cmj lists affected ranges: Go code.vikunja.io/api >=0 <=2.2.2)

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