CVE-2026-25045: Budibase Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

CVE-2026-25045 Overview

CVE-2026-25045 is a critical vulnerability affecting Budibase, a low code platform for creating internal tools, workflows, and admin panels. This security flaw combines Vertical Privilege Escalation and Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) due to missing server-side Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) checks in the /api/global/users endpoints.

The vulnerability allows a Creator-level user, who should have no permissions to manage users or organizational roles, to perform unauthorized administrative actions. An attacker can promote an App Viewer to Tenant Admin, demote a Tenant Admin to App Viewer, or modify the Owner's account details and orders. This occurs because the API accepts these actions without validating the requesting role, enabling a Creator to replay Owner-only requests using their own session tokens.

Critical Impact

Full tenant compromise is possible through unauthorized role manipulation and account modifications, allowing attackers to take complete control of Budibase tenant environments.

Affected Products

• Budibase low code platform (versions prior to patch)
• Budibase /api/global/users API endpoints
• Budibase tenant management system

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-03-09 - CVE CVE-2026-25045 published to NVD
• 2026-03-11 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-25045

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), where the Budibase platform fails to implement proper server-side authorization checks on user management endpoints. The /api/global/users API endpoints accept role modification and user management requests without verifying whether the requesting user has sufficient privileges to perform these actions.

The flaw combines two distinct security issues: Vertical Privilege Escalation allows lower-privileged users (Creator-level) to perform actions reserved for higher-privileged users (Owner/Admin), while the IDOR component enables direct manipulation of user objects regardless of the requester's relationship to those objects.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of server-side RBAC validation in the user management API endpoints. The application trusts client-side session tokens to authenticate users but fails to verify whether the authenticated user's role permits the requested operation. This creates a trust boundary violation where authentication is properly enforced, but authorization is not.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires low privileges to execute. An authenticated Creator-level user can exploit this vulnerability by:

1. Capturing legitimate administrative API requests through browser developer tools or proxy interception
2. Replaying these requests using their own valid session token
3. Modifying request parameters to target arbitrary user accounts
4. Executing privilege escalation operations such as promoting users to Tenant Admin or modifying Owner account details

The vulnerability allows attackers to manipulate the organizational hierarchy without detection, as the system accepts the requests as valid authenticated operations.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-25045

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected role changes for user accounts, particularly promotions to Tenant Admin
• API requests to /api/global/users endpoints from Creator-level accounts attempting administrative operations
• Modifications to Owner account details from non-Owner sessions
• Unusual patterns of user management activity from accounts without administrative privileges

Detection Strategies

• Implement API request logging that captures the requesting user's role alongside the attempted operation
• Monitor for role escalation events and alert on any Creator-level user attempting to modify user roles
• Deploy anomaly detection to identify session tokens being used for operations beyond their privilege scope
• Review audit logs for patterns of replayed administrative requests from non-administrative accounts

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging on all /api/global/users endpoint interactions
• Create alerts for any role modification events and cross-reference against authorized administrators
• Monitor for rapid succession of user management API calls that may indicate automated exploitation
• Implement real-time dashboards to track privilege changes across the tenant

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-25045

Immediate Actions Required

• Review and audit all user accounts for unauthorized role changes, particularly recent promotions to Tenant Admin
• Restrict access to the Budibase platform to trusted networks until patches are applied
• Implement network-level access controls to limit exposure of the /api/global/users endpoints
• Enable comprehensive API logging to detect any ongoing exploitation attempts

Patch Information

Budibase has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Administrators should consult the GitHub Security Advisory for specific patch versions and upgrade instructions. Apply the latest security patches immediately to remediate this vulnerability.

Workarounds

• Implement a reverse proxy or API gateway to add authorization checks on the /api/global/users endpoints
• Restrict Creator-level accounts to the minimum necessary permissions until patching is complete
• Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block unauthorized user management API requests
• Consider temporarily disabling Creator account creation until the vulnerability is patched