Vikunja: Plaintext storage of password-reset and confirmation tokens
Summary
Vikunja stores password-reset, email-confirmation and account-deletion tokens in plaintext in the user_tokens database table. An attacker with read access to the database, for example through a leaked backup, misconfigured storage or SQL-level exposure, can use pending tokens to take over user accounts without knowing the passwords. The web application being reachable from the internet is not itself the trigger.
Affected
- Vikunja versions prior to 2.4.0 (the vendor advisory lists versions up to and including 2.3.0)
Fixed in
- Vikunja 2.4.0 and later (fix commits 00fd2c6, 3a0ea15 and e31ea2d)
Workaround
Unknown. The vendor documents no workaround. Restrict read access to the database and its backups until the update is applied.
Exploitation
- CISA SSVC lists exploitation as 'poc' (proof of concept available) and automatable as 'no'.
- No exploitation in the wild is known.
Our recommendation
- Upgrade Vikunja to 2.4.0 or later.
- The fix migration deletes existing plaintext tokens of kinds 1, 2 and 3 during the upgrade. Treat tokens already present in old backups or copies of the database as exposed.
- Restrict access to the database and backups.
- Check whether the instance is exposed and whether accounts with pending tokens need attention.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-r6w9-259g-gwrv github.com
- Vikunja release 2.4.0 github.com
- Fix commit 3a0ea15 (hash reset, confirmation and deletion tokens) github.com
- Fix commit 00fd2c6 (clear plaintext user tokens) github.com
- Fix commit e31ea2d github.com
- OSV entry CVE-2026-62376 osv.dev
- GitLab Advisory Database entry CVE-2026-62376 advisories.gitlab.com
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 1 Nov 2026, 20:23.
Original description (NVD)
Vikunja is an open-source self-hosted task management platform. Versions prior to 2.4.0 store password-reset, email-confirmation, and account-deletion tokens in the `user_tokens` table in plaintext. If an attacker gains read access to the database through a backup leak, misconfigured storage, or SQL-level exposure, they can immediately use pending tokens to take over user accounts without knowing passwords. Version 2.4.0 fixes the issue.
NVD references (6)
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/commit/00fd2c6155c01faae99be4226b931d8091fd6323
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/commit/3a0ea15d8c18ff960bc98ae39950fa7a14b0af7d
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/commit/e31ea2de5040fa63bc97cf4df63bafed3bd9ad85
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/releases/tag/v2.4.0
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/security/advisories/GHSA-r6w9-259g-gwrv
- https://github.com/go-vikunja/vikunja/security/advisories/GHSA-r6w9-259g-gwrv
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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