Summary
Open WebUI: Upload metadata.knowledge_id bypasses the knowledge-base write-access check (read-only users can add files to KB)
Impact
A read-only knowledge-base collaborator can perform a write operation against that knowledge base by attaching arbitrary uploaded files.
Security impact:
- Unauthorized knowledge-base membership modification.
- Integrity impact on shared knowledge-base file listings.
- Attacker-controlled files become readable to other users who can read the target knowledge base.
- If an owner/admin later reprocesses or globally reindexes the knowledge base, the unauthorized file can be indexed into the knowledge collection, turning the membership bypass into RAG/content poisoning.
This is not an unauthenticated issue. It requires a verified Open WebUI account and a valid target knowledge-base ID. The clearest exploit path is a user who legitimately has read access to a knowledge base but not write access.
The application does not perform an authorization check before performing a sensitive operation. Typical impact: unauthorized access to restricted functionality or data.
CVE-2026-59217 has a CVSS score of 4.3 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.10.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
Move knowledge-base authorization before the insert in the upload auto-link path. The upload path should share the same write-access and directory validation logic used by the dedicated knowledge endpoints.
One safe pattern:
- Load the target knowledge base.
- Require owner/admin/write access before calling
Knowledges.add_file_to_knowledge_by_id. - Validate that
directory_id, if supplied, belongs to the same knowledge base. - Run vector processing before inserting the membership row, or wrap processing plus insertion in a transaction/compensating cleanup so a denied or failed process cannot leave a stale unauthorized row.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-59217? CVE-2026-59217 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in open-webui (pip), affecting versions < 0.10.0. It is fixed in 0.10.0. The application does not perform an authorization check before performing a sensitive operation.
- How severe is CVE-2026-59217? CVE-2026-59217 has a CVSS score of 4.3 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of open-webui are affected by CVE-2026-59217? open-webui (pip) versions < 0.10.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-59217? Yes. CVE-2026-59217 is fixed in 0.10.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-59217 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-59217 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-59217 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-59217? Upgrade
open-webuito 0.10.0 or later.