Privilege Escalation in leantime/leantime (CVE-2026-85990)
Summary
Vulnerability in leantime/leantime (CVE-2026-85990). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Exploitable via POST /api/jsonrpc. Mitigation: upgrade to 3.10.0 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
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 PermissionEnforcer::enforce() (app/Core/Auth/Permissions/PermissionEnforcer.php), which reads a #[RequiresPermission(...)] PHP attribute off the target method - but when that attribute is absent, enforce() silently returns and allows the call through.
Api::createApiKeyWithProjects(array $values, ?array $projects) (app/Domain/Api/Services/Api.php) is @api-exposed and carries no #[RequiresPermission] attribute. It forwards $values - including a caller-supplie…
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-85990 has been found in leantime/leantime.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like POST /api/jsonrpc over the network to misuse the product.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 8.8/10.
What to do: upgrade leantime/leantime to 3.10.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "leantime/leantime CVE-2026-85990" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-85990 (leantime/leantime) — CWE-269 / CVSS v3 8.8
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / no user interaction
Attack surface: POST /api/jsonrpc / readonly / role / Plugins
Patched: 3.10.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-269) exists in leantime/leantime. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via POST /api/jsonrpc.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of leantime/leantime. Attack surface: POST /api/jsonrpc / readonly / role / Plugins.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to 3.10.0.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual POST /api/jsonrpc requests with malformed payloads or SQL meta-characters. Run grep -r 'leantime/leantime' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'leantime/leantime' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
leantime/leantimeを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Hunt for indicators of compromise detect
grep 'POST /api/jsonrpc' /var/log/nginx/access.log | grep -E '(unusual_payload|sqli_pattern)'アクセスログで
POST /api/jsonrpcへの異常なリクエスト (不正な認証ヘッダ・SQLメタ文字)を過去 30〜90日分捜索。WAF/SIEM があれば該当パスのアラート発火履歴を確認。 -
3Apply patch patch
Upgrade leantime/leantime to 3.10.0ステージング環境で 3.10.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスと、Step 2 で見つけた異常検知の続報チェックを含めること。
-
4Post-deployment verification verify
Replay attack against POST /api/jsonrpc on staging to confirm patch closes the vectorパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番では Step 2 と同じログクエリでアラート再発が無いか継続監視。