CVE-2024-7046: Open WebUI missing authz leaks admin

Q: Is CVE-2024-7046 actively exploited?

Proof-of-concept exploit code is publicly available for CVE-2024-7046, increasing the risk of exploitation.

Q: How to fix CVE-2024-7046?

1) Patch: Update Open WebUI to any version beyond 0.3.8—the fix adds proper authorization enforcement on /api/v1/auths/admin/details. 2) Workaround if patching is delayed: Configure nginx/Caddy to return 403 on /api/v1/auths/admin/details requests unless the session belongs to an admin role, or restrict to admin-only IP ranges. 3) Detection: Search web access logs for GET /api/v1/auths/admin/details calls from non-admin user sessions. Any hit from a regular user session is a confirmed exploitation attempt. 4) Credential hygiene: If exploitation is suspected, rotate admin password and audit all user accounts for unauthorized privilege changes. 5) Audit surface: Review all /api/v1/auths/* endpoints for similar missing authorization patterns—this class of bug often clusters.

Q: What systems are affected by CVE-2024-7046?

This vulnerability affects the following AI/ML architecture patterns: Self-hosted LLM serving, LLM admin panels, Internal AI gateways, Ollama/local model deployments.

Q: What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-7046?

CVE-2024-7046 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.3 (MEDIUM). The EPSS exploitation probability is 0.40%.

CISO Take

Any authenticated Open WebUI user can call /api/v1/auths/admin/details and retrieve the owner account details with no privilege check—one API call, done. Update beyond v0.3.8 immediately. If patching is delayed, block that endpoint at the reverse proxy layer for non-admin sessions and rotate admin credentials if exposure is suspected.

What is the risk?

CVSS 4.3 undersells the practical risk in shared deployments. PR:L means any regular user account is enough to trigger this—common in team Open WebUI setups where multiple engineers have access. The attack requires zero AI/ML knowledge: one authenticated HTTP GET. EPSS is low (0.00063) indicating no current mass exploitation, but the simplicity of the vector makes this a low-effort opportunistic attack for insiders or anyone who compromises a low-privilege account first. Primary risk is admin account takeover enabling full control of the LLM-serving environment.

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

4.3 / 10

EPSS

0.4%

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Higher than 32% of all CVEs

Source: EPSS v3 — FIRST.org

Exploitation Status

Exploit Available

Exploitation: MEDIUM

Sophistication

Trivial

Exploitation Confidence

medium

○ CISA SSVC: Public PoC

○ Public PoC indexed (trickest/cve)

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 Low

UI None

S Unchanged

C Low

I None

A None

What should I do?

1 step

1) Patch: Update Open WebUI to any version beyond 0.3.8—the fix adds proper authorization enforcement on /api/v1/auths/admin/details. 2) Workaround if patching is delayed: Configure nginx/Caddy to return 403 on /api/v1/auths/admin/details requests unless the session belongs to an admin role, or restrict to admin-only IP ranges. 3) Detection: Search web access logs for GET /api/v1/auths/admin/details calls from non-admin user sessions. Any hit from a regular user session is a confirmed exploitation attempt. 4) Credential hygiene: If exploitation is suspected, rotate admin password and audit all user accounts for unauthorized privilege changes. 5) Audit surface: Review all /api/v1/auths/* endpoints for similar missing authorization patterns—this class of bug often clusters.

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?

Auth Bypass Data Extraction Privacy Violation API Framework AML.T0012 - Valid Accounts AML.T0049 - Exploit Public-Facing Application AML.T0087 - Gather Victim Identity Information

Which compliance frameworks are affected?

This CVE is relevant to:

EU AI Act

Art. 15 - Accuracy, robustness and cybersecurity

ISO 42001

A.6.2 - AI system access control

NIST AI RMF

GOVERN 1.2 - Roles, responsibilities, and accountability for AI

OWASP LLM Top 10

LLM02 - Sensitive Information Disclosure

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-7046?

Any authenticated Open WebUI user can call /api/v1/auths/admin/details and retrieve the owner account details with no privilege check—one API call, done. Update beyond v0.3.8 immediately. If patching is delayed, block that endpoint at the reverse proxy layer for non-admin sessions and rotate admin credentials if exposure is suspected.

Is CVE-2024-7046 actively exploited?

Proof-of-concept exploit code is publicly available for CVE-2024-7046, increasing the risk of exploitation.

How to fix CVE-2024-7046?

1) Patch: Update Open WebUI to any version beyond 0.3.8—the fix adds proper authorization enforcement on /api/v1/auths/admin/details. 2) Workaround if patching is delayed: Configure nginx/Caddy to return 403 on /api/v1/auths/admin/details requests unless the session belongs to an admin role, or restrict to admin-only IP ranges. 3) Detection: Search web access logs for GET /api/v1/auths/admin/details calls from non-admin user sessions. Any hit from a regular user session is a confirmed exploitation attempt. 4) Credential hygiene: If exploitation is suspected, rotate admin password and audit all user accounts for unauthorized privilege changes. 5) Audit surface: Review all /api/v1/auths/* endpoints for similar missing authorization patterns—this class of bug often clusters.

What systems are affected by CVE-2024-7046?

This vulnerability affects the following AI/ML architecture patterns: Self-hosted LLM serving, LLM admin panels, Internal AI gateways, Ollama/local model deployments.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2024-7046?

CVE-2024-7046 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.3 (MEDIUM). The EPSS exploitation probability is 0.40%.

What is the AI security impact?

Affected AI Architectures

Self-hosted LLM servingLLM admin panelsInternal AI gatewaysOllama/local model deployments

MITRE ATLAS Techniques

AML.T0012 Valid Accounts

AML.T0049 Exploit Public-Facing Application

AML.T0087 Gather Victim Identity Information

Compliance Controls Affected

EU AI Act: Art. 15

ISO 42001: A.6.2

NIST AI RMF: GOVERN 1.2

OWASP LLM Top 10: LLM02

What are the technical details?

Original Advisory

An improper access control vulnerability in open-webui/open-webui v0.3.8 allows an attacker to view admin details. The application does not verify whether the attacker is an administrator, allowing the attacker to directly call the /api/v1/auths/admin/details interface to retrieve the first admin (owner) details.

Exploitation Scenario

A developer with a standard Open WebUI account on the company's internal LLM gateway (used for accessing Ollama with proprietary models) sends a single GET request to /api/v1/auths/admin/details using their existing session token. The server returns the admin email and account details without checking privileges. The attacker uses the admin email for targeted spearphishing or, if a password hash is in the response, attempts offline cracking. With admin access obtained, they reconfigure model system prompts to exfiltrate data from subsequent user queries, add a backdoor user account, or extract API keys for commercial LLM providers configured in the instance.

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-475 Undefined Behavior for Input to API Primary CWE-862 Missing Authorization Primary

CWE-475 — Undefined Behavior for Input to API: The behavior of this function is undefined unless its control parameter is set to a specific value.

Source: MITRE CWE corpus.