CVE-2026-21694: Titra Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2026-21694 Overview

CVE-2026-21694 is an Improper Access Control vulnerability discovered in Titra, an open source project time tracking software. The vulnerability affects versions 0.99.49 and below, allowing authenticated users to view and edit other users' time entries in private projects they have not been granted access to. This represents a significant breach of access control mechanisms that could expose sensitive project time tracking data.

Critical Impact

Authenticated users can bypass access controls to view and modify time entries belonging to other users in private projects, potentially leading to unauthorized data disclosure and integrity violations.

Affected Products

• Titra versions 0.99.49 and below
• Titra open source project time tracking software

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-01-08 - CVE-2026-21694 published to NVD
• 2026-01-08 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-21694

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from improper access control (CWE-284) in Titra's API layer. The flaw allows authenticated users to access and modify time entries associated with private projects, even when those users have not been explicitly granted access to those projects. The attack requires network access and authenticated user privileges, but once these conditions are met, an attacker can gain unauthorized read and write access to sensitive time tracking data.

The vulnerability has significant confidentiality and integrity impact, as attackers can both view sensitive time entries from other users and potentially modify historical time records. This could affect billing accuracy, project reporting, and audit trails within organizations using the affected software.

Root Cause

The root cause lies in the order of object property assignment during task and timecard insertion operations. The vulnerable code allowed customfields to be spread after other properties in object construction, potentially enabling malicious users to override protected fields like projectId and userId through carefully crafted API requests. This design flaw effectively bypasses the intended access control checks.

Attack Vector

The attack is conducted over the network by an authenticated user making malicious API requests to the Titra application. By manipulating the customfields parameter in task or timecard creation requests, an attacker can override critical fields that determine ownership and project association, thereby gaining access to time entries in private projects.

The security patch addresses this by moving the spread of customfields to the beginning of object construction, ensuring that explicit field assignments take precedence over any values that might be passed in through customfields.

// Security patch in imports/api/tasks/server/methods.js
// Source: https://github.com/kromitgmbh/titra/commit/29e6b88eca005107729e45a6f1731cf0fa5f8938

     projectId, name, start, end, estimatedHours, dependencies, customfields,
   }) {
     await Tasks.insertAsync({
+      ...customfields,
       projectId,
       name,
       start,
       end,
       estimatedHours,
       dependencies,
-      ...customfields,
     })
   },
 })

// Security patch in imports/api/timecards/server/methods.js
// Source: https://github.com/kromitgmbh/titra/commit/29e6b88eca005107729e45a6f1731cf0fa5f8938

  */
 async function insertTimeCard(projectId, task, date, hours, userId, taskRate, customfields) {
   const newTimeCard = {
+    ...customfields,
     userId,
     projectId,
     date,
     hours,
     task: await emojify(task),
-    ...customfields,
   }
   if (taskRate) {
     newTimeCard.taskRate = taskRate
   }
   if (!await Tasks.findOneAsync({ $or: [{ userId }, { projectId }], name: await emojify(task) })) {
     await Tasks.insertAsync({
-      userId, lastUsed: new Date(), name: await emojify(task), ...customfields,
+      ...customfields, userId, lastUsed: new Date(), name: await emojify(task),
     })
   } else {
     await Tasks.updateAsync(
       { $or: [{ userId }, { projectId }], name: await emojify(task) },
-      { $set: { lastUsed: new Date(), ...customfields } },
+      { $set: { ...customfields, lastUsed: new Date() } },
     )
   }
   return Timecards.insertAsync(newTimeCard)

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-21694

Indicators of Compromise

• API requests containing unexpected projectId or userId values within customfields parameters
• Time entries appearing in projects where the associated user has no legitimate access
• Audit logs showing users accessing or modifying time entries outside their assigned projects
• Unusual patterns of timecard or task creation requests with manipulated field values

Detection Strategies

• Implement API request logging and analyze for anomalous customfields payloads containing sensitive field names
• Monitor for access patterns where users query or modify time entries in projects not assigned to them
• Deploy application-level intrusion detection to flag requests attempting to override protected object properties
• Review database audit logs for time entries where the creating user differs from expected project membership

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging on Titra API endpoints handling task and timecard operations
• Implement real-time alerting for unauthorized cross-project data access attempts
• Regularly audit time entry records for integrity violations and unauthorized modifications
• Monitor for users accessing data outside their designated project scope

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-21694

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Titra to version 0.99.50 or later immediately
• Review time entry audit logs for any evidence of unauthorized access or modifications
• Verify project membership and access permissions for all users
• Consider implementing additional application-level access control validation

Patch Information

The vulnerability has been addressed in Titra version 0.99.50. The fix modifies the order of object property spreading to ensure that customfields values cannot override protected fields like projectId and userId. Organizations should update to the patched version as soon as possible.

For technical details on the fix, refer to the GitHub Commit Details and the GitHub Security Advisory.

Workarounds

• Restrict API access to trusted users only until the patch can be applied
• Implement network-level access controls to limit exposure of the Titra application
• Enable additional logging and monitoring to detect exploitation attempts
• Consider temporarily restricting customfields functionality if feasible

# Upgrade Titra to patched version
cd /path/to/titra
git fetch origin
git checkout v0.99.50
npm install
npm run build
# Restart the Titra service
pm2 restart titra