CVE-2026-35597 | Vikunja Affected by TOTP Brute-Force Due to Non-Functional Account Lockout

Exp

Vikunja is an open-source self-hosted task management platform. Prior to 2.3.0, the TOTP failed-attempt lockout mechanism is non-functional due to a database transaction handling bug. When a TOTP validation fails, the login handler in pkg/routes/api/v1/login.go calls HandleFailedTOTPAuth and then unconditionally rolls back. HandleFailedTOTPAuth in pkg/user/totp.go uses an in-memory counter (key-value store) to track failed attempts. When the counter reaches 10, it calls user.SetStatus(s, StatusAccountLocked) on the same database session s. Because the login handler always rolls back after a TOTP failure, the StatusAccountLocked write is undone. The in-memory counter correctly increments past 10, so the lockout code executes on every subsequent attempt, but the database write is rolled back every time. This allows unlimited brute-force attempts against TOTP codes. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.3.0.

Published: 2026-04-10 Last update: 2026-04-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-35597 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-35597

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-35597

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-22 0.03% 0.06% +0.02%
2 2026-04-11 0.03%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-35597

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.2 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-35597

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-35597

GHSA-fgfv-pv97-6cmj · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — Vikunja Vulnerable to TOTP Brute-Force Due to Non-Functional Account Lockout

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-35597

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vikunja vikunja < 2.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:vikunja:vikunja:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-35597

cvelogic Threat Intelligence