CVE-2024-7036 — HIGH (CVSS 7.5) AI Security Vulnerability

CISO Take

Any open-webui deployment at v0.3.8 or earlier with public registration enabled can have its admin panel permanently disabled by a single unauthenticated HTTP request. Upgrade immediately or disable open registration and restrict admin panel access to trusted networks only. The critical risk is administrative paralysis during an incident: if exploited, you cannot revoke compromised user accounts from your AI platform.

Risk Assessment

HIGH operational risk despite low EPSS (0.00485). Zero prerequisites for exploitation—no authentication, no credentials, no AI/ML knowledge required. The real danger is governance paralysis: if triggered during a security incident, administrators lose the ability to revoke access for any user on the platform. Exposure is amplified by open-webui's widespread adoption as a self-hosted LLM frontend in enterprise and research environments.

Affected Systems

Package	Ecosystem	Vulnerable Range	Patched
open-webui	pip	<= 0.3.8	No patch
135.3K Pushed 8d ago 58% patched ~9d to patch Full package profile →

Do you use open-webui? You're affected.

Severity & Risk

CVSS 3.1

7.5 / 10

EPSS

1.8%

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Higher than 83% 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, CISA SSVC, EPSS, trickest/cve, and Nuclei templates.

Attack Surface

AV Network

AC Low

PR None

UI None

S Unchanged

C None

I None

A High

Recommended Action

6 steps

Upgrade open-webui to the latest available version beyond 0.3.8.
As immediate workaround, disable open registration and require admin-issued invites only.
Restrict the admin panel to internal/VPN-only access via reverse proxy (nginx/Caddy deny rules).
Deploy WAF rule to reject registration requests where the name field exceeds 255 characters.
Monitor for anomalous large POST payloads to the signup endpoint (threshold alert: payload > 10KB).
Audit existing user accounts before patching to identify any accounts created exploitatively during exposure window.

CISA SSVC Assessment

Decision Track*

Exploitation poc

Automatable Yes

Technical Impact partial

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

Classification

DoS Framework API AML.T0021 - Establish Accounts AML.T0029 - Denial of AI Service AML.T0049 - Exploit Public-Facing Application

Compliance Impact

This CVE is relevant to:

EU AI Act

Article 15 - Accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity

ISO 42001

A.6.2 - AI system security and access control

NIST AI RMF

MANAGE-2.2 - Mechanisms are in place to sustain AI system security and resilience

OWASP LLM Top 10

LLM04 - Model Denial of Service

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-7036?

Any open-webui deployment at v0.3.8 or earlier with public registration enabled can have its admin panel permanently disabled by a single unauthenticated HTTP request. Upgrade immediately or disable open registration and restrict admin panel access to trusted networks only. The critical risk is administrative paralysis during an incident: if exploited, you cannot revoke compromised user accounts from your AI platform.

Is CVE-2024-7036 actively exploited?

No confirmed active exploitation of CVE-2024-7036 has been reported, but organizations should still patch proactively.

How to fix CVE-2024-7036?

1. Upgrade open-webui to the latest available version beyond 0.3.8. 2. As immediate workaround, disable open registration and require admin-issued invites only. 3. Restrict the admin panel to internal/VPN-only access via reverse proxy (nginx/Caddy deny rules). 4. Deploy WAF rule to reject registration requests where the name field exceeds 255 characters. 5. Monitor for anomalous large POST payloads to the signup endpoint (threshold alert: payload > 10KB). 6. Audit existing user accounts before patching to identify any accounts created exploitatively during exposure window.

What systems are affected by CVE-2024-7036?

This vulnerability affects the following AI/ML architecture patterns: LLM web frontends, AI chat interfaces, model serving UIs, multi-user AI platforms.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-7036?

CVE-2024-7036 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH). The EPSS exploitation probability is 1.85%.

Technical Details

NVD Description

A vulnerability in open-webui/open-webui v0.3.8 allows an unauthenticated attacker to sign up with excessively large text in the 'name' field, causing the Admin panel to become unresponsive. This prevents administrators from performing essential user management actions such as deleting, editing, or adding users. The vulnerability can also be exploited by authenticated users with low privileges, leading to the same unresponsive state in the Admin panel.

Exploitation Scenario

Attacker discovers an exposed open-webui instance via Shodan or Censys using open-webui HTTP fingerprints. They send a single HTTP POST to /api/v1/auths/signup with a name field containing several megabytes of text—requiring zero authentication. The server processes the oversized payload, causing the admin panel to become permanently unresponsive. If the attacker previously created a low-privilege account (also unauthenticated), that account persists with ongoing LLM access while administrators are locked out of user management. The attacker may use this as a persistence mechanism: first create a malicious account, then trigger the DoS to prevent admin revocation.