CVE-2024-7035: Open WebUI CSRF wipes RAG DB and AI

CISO Take

Any authenticated admin of open-webui ≤ 0.3.8 can have their entire RAG knowledge base, AI memory, and uploaded documents silently wiped by visiting a malicious page. CSRF via GET means no user interaction beyond normal browsing is required. Upgrade immediately; if on-prem deployment, restrict access to internal networks as interim mitigation.

What is the risk?

CVSS 6.9 Medium understates operational impact for AI deployments. EPSS 0.0004 indicates low active exploitation, but the attack is trivial to execute — a single img tag or iframe suffices. The PR:H in the vector reflects that the victim must be a privileged user, not that the attacker needs privileges. Data destruction of RAG databases represents irreversible loss if backups are absent. Organizations running open-webui as an enterprise LLM interface with curated knowledge bases face disproportionate operational risk.

What systems are affected?

Package	Ecosystem	Vulnerable Range	Patched
Open WebUI	pip	<= 0.3.8	No patch
142.4K Pushed 4d ago 77% patched ~5d to patch Full package profile →

Do you use Open WebUI? You're affected.

How severe is it?

CVSS 3.1

6.9 / 10

EPSS

0.2%

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Higher than 14% of all CVEs

Source: EPSS v3 — FIRST.org

Exploitation Status

Exploit Available

Exploitation: MEDIUM

Sophistication

Trivial

Exploitation Confidence

medium

○ CISA SSVC: Public PoC

Composite signal derived from CISA KEV, VulnCheck KEV, CISA SSVC, EPSS, Metasploit, Exploit-DB, trickest/cve, Nuclei templates, and inthewild.io exploitation reports.

What is the attack surface?

AV Network

AC Low

PR High

UI Required

S Changed

C None

I High

A Low

What should I do?

5 steps

Upgrade open-webui to a version > 0.3.8.
If upgrade is not immediately possible: place the instance behind a VPN or internal network boundary, preventing external CSRF triggers.
Configure SameSite=Strict or SameSite=Lax on session cookies to block cross-origin requests at the browser level.
Audit web server logs for unexpected GET requests to /rag/api/v1/reset*, /api/v1/memories/reset — zero-arg resets from unexpected sources indicate exploitation.
Verify backup strategy for RAG databases and uploaded documents; test restore procedure before deploying the fix.

What does CISA's SSVC say?

Decision Track*

Exploitation poc

Automatable No

Technical Impact partial

Source: CISA Vulnrichment (SSVC v2.0). Decision based on the CISA Coordinator decision tree.

How is it classified?

DoS Auth Bypass RAG API Framework AML.T0011.003 - Malicious Link AML.T0031 - Erode AI Model Integrity AML.T0049 - Exploit Public-Facing Application AML.T0059 - Erode Dataset Integrity AML.T0078 - Drive-by Compromise

Which compliance frameworks are affected?

This CVE is relevant to:

EU AI Act

Article 15 - Accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity

ISO 42001

8.4 - AI system risk treatment

NIST AI RMF

MANAGE 2.2 - Mechanisms for AI risk response and recovery

OWASP LLM Top 10

LLM04 - Data and Model Poisoning

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-7035?

Any authenticated admin of open-webui ≤ 0.3.8 can have their entire RAG knowledge base, AI memory, and uploaded documents silently wiped by visiting a malicious page. CSRF via GET means no user interaction beyond normal browsing is required. Upgrade immediately; if on-prem deployment, restrict access to internal networks as interim mitigation.

Is CVE-2024-7035 actively exploited?

No confirmed active exploitation of CVE-2024-7035 has been reported, but organizations should still patch proactively.

How to fix CVE-2024-7035?

1. Upgrade open-webui to a version > 0.3.8. 2. If upgrade is not immediately possible: place the instance behind a VPN or internal network boundary, preventing external CSRF triggers. 3. Configure SameSite=Strict or SameSite=Lax on session cookies to block cross-origin requests at the browser level. 4. Audit web server logs for unexpected GET requests to /rag/api/v1/reset*, /api/v1/memories/reset — zero-arg resets from unexpected sources indicate exploitation. 5. Verify backup strategy for RAG databases and uploaded documents; test restore procedure before deploying the fix.

What systems are affected by CVE-2024-7035?

This vulnerability affects the following AI/ML architecture patterns: RAG pipelines, LLM web interfaces, AI agent memory systems, enterprise knowledge bases.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-7035?

CVE-2024-7035 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.9 (MEDIUM). The EPSS exploitation probability is 0.23%.

What is the AI security impact?

Affected AI Architectures

RAG pipelinesLLM web interfacesAI agent memory systemsenterprise knowledge bases

MITRE ATLAS Techniques

AML.T0011.003 Malicious Link

AML.T0031 Erode AI Model Integrity

AML.T0049 Exploit Public-Facing Application

AML.T0059 Erode Dataset Integrity

AML.T0078 Drive-by Compromise

Compliance Controls Affected

EU AI Act: Article 15

ISO 42001: 8.4

NIST AI RMF: MANAGE 2.2

OWASP LLM Top 10: LLM04

What are the technical details?

Original Advisory

In version v0.3.8 of open-webui/open-webui, sensitive actions such as deleting and resetting are performed using the GET method. This vulnerability allows an attacker to perform Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks, where an unaware user can unintentionally perform sensitive actions by simply visiting a malicious site or through top-level navigation. The affected endpoints include /rag/api/v1/reset, /rag/api/v1/reset/db, /api/v1/memories/reset, and /rag/api/v1/reset/uploads. This impacts both the availability and integrity of the application.

Exploitation Scenario

Attacker sends a phishing email to a known open-webui admin containing a link to a malicious page. The page includes an img tag with src pointing to https://internal-webui.corp/rag/api/v1/reset/db. When the admin loads the page on their corporate browser — already authenticated to open-webui — the browser automatically issues the GET request with the admin's session cookie attached. The RAG database is wiped silently. The admin sees no error; the next LLM query simply returns no context-grounded answers. The attacker achieves persistent degradation of the AI system without ever authenticating to it.

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-352 Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Primary

CWE-352 — Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF): The web application does not, or cannot, sufficiently verify whether a request was intentionally provided by the user who sent the request, which could have originated from an unauthorized actor.

[Architecture and Design] Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid [REF-1482]. For example, use anti-CSRF packages such as the OWASP CSRFGuard. [REF-330] Another example is the ESAPI Session Management control, which includes a component for CSRF. [REF-45]
[Implementation] Ensure that the application is free of cross-site scripting issues (CWE-79), because most CSRF defenses can be bypassed using attacker-controlled script.

Source: MITRE CWE corpus.