Leantime: Any Authenticated User Can Self-Escalate to Admin via Unauthorized JSON-RPC Methods

Why it is Amber

• CVSS 8.8 high
• On your watchlist: Composer

Affected packages

References

• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp
• https://github.com/Leantime/leantime/security/advisories/GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85990
• https://github.com/Leantime/leantime/pull/3583
• https://github.com/Leantime/leantime/pull/3797
• https://github.com/Leantime/leantime/commit/5605e5ee86bbd01acb85c6b5d8fb337faf8bcf02
• https://github.com/Leantime/leantime/commit/7ebf7a9517e2aaa05ec15b8130ab1841a4bde43e
• https://github.com/Leantime/leantime/releases/tag/v3.10.0
• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-54mm-6729-r5wp

Original description

Leantime is an open source project management system. Prior to 3.10.0, for the provisionally grouped account-creation and plugin-management surfaces, Leantime's JSON-RPC dispatcher in app/Domain/Api/Controllers/Jsonrpc.php exposes public API service methods, while PermissionEnforcer::enforce allows methods that lack a RequiresPermission attribute. A low-privilege authenticated user with an ordinary browser session can send the required X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest header and call leantime.rpc.api.api.createApiKeyWithProjects, which reaches Api::createApiKeyWithProjects, with an attacker-chosen role to create an interactive administrator account. The same missing per-method authorization exposes Plugins::installPlugin, Plugins::enablePlugin, Plugins::disablePlugin, and Plugins::removePlugin to ordinary authenticated users, permitting unauthorized plugin management. The complete provisionally grouped issue is fixed in version 3.10.0.