{"id":"PYSEC-2026-2711","summary":"Open WebUI's Channel Access Grants Bypass filter_allowed_access_grants","details":"# Channel Access Grants Bypass filter_allowed_access_grants\n\n## Affected Component\n\nChannel creation and update endpoints:\n- `backend/open_webui/routers/channels.py` (lines 291-340, `create_new_channel`)\n- `backend/open_webui/routers/channels.py` (lines 617-638, `update_channel_by_id`)\n- `backend/open_webui/models/channels.py` (lines 825-826, `set_access_grants` call without filtering)\n\n## Affected Versions\n\nCurrent main branch (commit `6fdd19bf1`) and likely all versions supporting user-created group channels with access grants.\n\n## Description\n\nAll resource routers in Open WebUI (knowledge, models, notes, prompts, tools, skills) call `filter_allowed_access_grants()` before persisting access grants. This function strips `principal_id: \"*\"` wildcard grants from users who lack the relevant `sharing.public_*` permission, and strips individual user grants from users who lack `access_grants.allow_users` permission.\n\nThe channel router does not call `filter_allowed_access_grants` on either create or update paths. A non-admin user who can create group channels (or who owns a channel) can submit arbitrary access grants — including public wildcard grants — and those grants are stored verbatim, bypassing the admin's permission framework.\n\n```python\n# channels.py — access_grants from form data flow directly into persistence\n# No call to filter_allowed_access_grants() anywhere in these paths.\n\n# Compare with knowledge.py / models.py / notes.py / prompts.py / tools.py / skills.py,\n# all of which do:\n#     form_data.access_grants = filter_allowed_access_grants(user, form_data.access_grants)\n# before creating or updating.\n```\n\n## Attack Scenario\n\n1. Admin configures permissions so that regular users do NOT have `sharing.public_channels` — public sharing of channels is intended to be admin-only.\n2. Attacker (a regular user) creates or owns a group channel.\n3. Attacker sends:\n   ```\n   POST /api/v1/channels/\n   {\n     \"name\": \"public-channel\",\n     \"type\": \"group\",\n     \"access_control\": {\n       \"access_grants\": [\n         {\"principal_type\": \"user\", \"principal_id\": \"*\", \"permission\": \"read\"}\n       ]\n     }\n   }\n   ```\n4. `set_access_grants` is called directly without `filter_allowed_access_grants` — the wildcard grant is persisted.\n5. The channel becomes publicly readable to every user on the instance, despite the admin's policy prohibiting public channels for regular users.\n\nThe same attack works via `POST /api/v1/channels/{id}/update` for any channel the attacker owns.\n\n## Impact\n\n- Regular users can bypass the `sharing.public_channels` permission and make channels publicly accessible\n- Regular users can bypass `access_grants.allow_users` to grant individual-user access in environments where only group-based sharing is intended\n- Admin's permission framework for channels is silently ineffective\n- Creates an inconsistency with every other resource type in the codebase, making the security posture harder to reason about\n\n## Preconditions\n\n- Attacker must have an account with the ability to create group channels (default user capability), or ownership of an existing channel\n- Admin must have configured restrictive sharing permissions for regular users (otherwise there's no policy to bypass)","aliases":["CVE-2026-44558","GHSA-7rjh-px4v-5w55"],"modified":"2026-07-13T16:32:18.740039547Z","published":"2026-07-13T15:15:42.033605Z","references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui/security/advisories/GHSA-7rjh-px4v-5w55"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44558"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://pypi.org/project/open-webui"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-7rjh-px4v-5w55"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"open-webui","ecosystem":"PyPI","purl":"pkg:pypi/open-webui"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"0.9.0"}]}],"versions":["0.1.124","0.1.125","0.2.0","0.2.1","0.2.2","0.2.3","0.2.4","0.2.5","0.3.0","0.3.1","0.3.10","0.3.12","0.3.13","0.3.14","0.3.15","0.3.16","0.3.17","0.3.17.dev2","0.3.17.dev3","0.3.17.dev4","0.3.17.dev5","0.3.18","0.3.19","0.3.2","0.3.20","0.3.21","0.3.22","0.3.23","0.3.24","0.3.25","0.3.26","0.3.27","0.3.27.dev1","0.3.27.dev2","0.3.27.dev3","0.3.28","0.3.29","0.3.3","0.3.30","0.3.30.dev1","0.3.30.dev2","0.3.31","0.3.31.dev1","0.3.32","0.3.33","0.3.33.dev1","0.3.34","0.3.35","0.3.4","0.3.5","0.3.6","0.3.7","0.3.8","0.3.9","0.4.0","0.4.0.dev1","0.4.0.dev2","0.4.1","0.4.2","0.4.3","0.4.4","0.4.5","0.4.6","0.4.6.dev1","0.4.7","0.4.8","0.5.0","0.5.0.dev1","0.5.0.dev2","0.5.1","0.5.10","0.5.11","0.5.12","0.5.13","0.5.14","0.5.15","0.5.16","0.5.17","0.5.18","0.5.19","0.5.2","0.5.20","0.5.3","0.5.3.dev1","0.5.4","0.5.5","0.5.6","0.5.7","0.5.8","0.5.9","0.6.0","0.6.1","0.6.10","0.6.11","0.6.12","0.6.13","0.6.14","0.6.15","0.6.16","0.6.18","0.6.19","0.6.2","0.6.20","0.6.21","0.6.22","0.6.23","0.6.24","0.6.25","0.6.26","0.6.26.dev1","0.6.27","0.6.28","0.6.29","0.6.3","0.6.30","0.6.31","0.6.32","0.6.33","0.6.34","0.6.35","0.6.36","0.6.37","0.6.38","0.6.39","0.6.4","0.6.40","0.6.41","0.6.42","0.6.43","0.6.5","0.6.6","0.6.6.dev1","0.6.7","0.6.8","0.6.9","0.7.0","0.7.1","0.7.2","0.8.0","0.8.1","0.8.10","0.8.11","0.8.12","0.8.2","0.8.3","0.8.4","0.8.5","0.8.6","0.8.7","0.8.8","0.8.9"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/blob/main/vulns/open-webui/PYSEC-2026-2711.yaml"}}],"schema_version":"1.7.5","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N"}]}