GHSA-j657-m4c4-24jq: Open WebUI: Terminal proxy forwards a spoofable, integrity-unbound user identity to the upstream (X-User-Id header and ws_terminal session_id query injection)
Summary
The terminal proxy in backend/open_webui/routers/terminals.py forwards the Open WebUI user's identity to the upstream terminal server / backend coordinator as an authorization claim, with no cryptographic binding to the session that produced it. The forwarded identity is attacker-influenceable on both proxy paths:
1. **HTTP path (proxy_terminal) sets headers['X-User-Id'] = user.id. Upstreams that trust X-User-Id as identity receive it unsigned, so an attacker who can reach the upstream by other means (directly, a compromised peer, SSRF) can spoof it.
2. WebSocket path (ws_terminal)** is exploitable through Open WebUI itself, with no "other means" required. It interpolates the path parameter session_id directly into the upstream URL and then appends ?user_id=<caller>:
upstream_url = f'{ws_base}/p/{policy_id}/api/terminals/{session_id}'
upstream_url += f'?{urllib.parse.urlencode({"user_id": user.id})}'
session_id is neither validated nor URL-encoded (the HTTP sibling runs _sanitize_proxy_path; this path runs nothing). An encoded ?/& smuggled through session_id survives Open WebUI's single decode and is re-decoded by the upstream, injecting an attacker-chosen user_id ahead of the appended one. Query parsing binds the first occurrence, so the backend coordinator resolves the spoofed user's terminal scope.
Technical Details
The forwarded terminal identity is a bearer-style authorization claim with no integrity binding, and on the WebSocket path it is additionally injectable because session_id is concatenated into the URL without encoding or delimiter validation.
Impact
A normal authenticated user can make the terminal proxy present another user's identity to the upstream backend coordinator. On backend coordinator-backed (policy_id) servers that scope terminal containers by user_id, this reaches another user's terminal scope; combined with a known active session ID (for example a chat-scoped session ID surfaced through a shared chat), it allows attaching
Details
Original advisory: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-j657-m4c4-24jq
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Low exploitation riskCVE-2026-592240.29% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 21% of all scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-59224 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
Same CVEs, other sources
How other CERTs, PSIRTs and databases cover the vulnerabilities in this advisory.
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