Leantime: Any Authenticated User Can Self-Escalate to Admin via Unauthorized JSON-RPC Methods

Exploitation

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

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2026-85990: 0.42% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 36.12 (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 Any authenticated Leantime user - including the lowest-privilege readonly role - can escalate to full administrative access by calling the JSON-RPC method leantime.rpc.api.api.createApiKeyWithProjects with an attacker-chosen role value. The server creates a new account at that role with no authorization check, and the resulting credentials work as a fully interactive admin login through the ordinary web UI. The same root cause (missing per-method authorization on JSON-RPC-exposed service methods) also leaves the Plugins service's installPlugin, enablePlugin, disablePlugin, and removePlugin methods callable by any authenticated user with no role check, even though their web-UI equivalents correctly require an admin/owner role. Details Leantime's JSON-RPC API (app/Domain/Api/Controllers/Jsonrpc.php) reflects any public method on any @api-annotated service class and dispatches it at leantime.rpc.{domain}.{service}.{method}. Per-method authorization is enforced by…

Published by the source

15 Oct 2026, 20:14 UTC

Last modified by the source

15 Oct 2026, 20:30 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 14:53 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-85990

Advisory: Leantime: Any Authenticated User Can Self-Escalate to Admin via Unauthorized JSON-RPC Methods
IDs: CVE-2026-85990, GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-85990 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 14:53 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.8)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: leantime/leantime 3.10.0. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Packagist leantime/leantime: affected < 3.10.0; fixed in 3.10.0

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Packagist leantime/leantime: 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 leantime/leantime.
- 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://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp (OSV record GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp lists affected ranges: Packagist leantime/leantime >=0 <3.10.0 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp lists affected ranges: Packagist leantime/leantime >=0 <3.10.0)

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