CVE-2026-54320: Daytona Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2026-54320 Overview

CVE-2026-54320 is an authentication bypass vulnerability in Daytona, a secure and elastic infrastructure runtime for AI-generated code execution and agent workflows. Versions prior to 0.184.0 allow organization invitations to be accepted or declined by users whose email matches the invitation but has not been verified. The flaw enables an attacker to register an unverified email matching a pending invitation and join the target organization with the assigned role, including Owner. The issue is fixed in 0.184.0.

Critical Impact
Attackers can hijack pending organization invitations on identity providers that allow self-service signup, gaining roles up to Owner in the target Daytona organization.

Affected Products

Daytona versions prior to 0.184.0
Deployments using OpenID Connect (OIDC) identity providers that issue sessions before email verification
Daytona organizations with pending invitations addressed to externally controllable email domains

Discovery Timeline

2026-06-23 - CVE-2026-54320 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-24 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-54320

Vulnerability Analysis

Daytona authenticates users via OIDC and matches an invitation's target email against the email claim in the caller's token. Organization creation enforces email verification, but the invitation accept and decline paths do not. The mismatch in enforcement creates an authentication bypass classified under [CWE-287] Improper Authentication. An attacker who can register an unverified account at an identity provider matching a pending invitation address can join the target organization. The role granted matches the invitation, which may be Owner, giving the attacker full administrative control over the organization's workspaces, secrets, and runtime resources.

Root Cause

The root cause is inconsistent email verification enforcement across authentication paths. The invitation accept and decline handlers trust the email claim in the OIDC token without checking the email_verified claim. Identity providers that issue session tokens prior to verification expose the application to identity spoofing through unverified addresses.

Attack Vector

The attack requires an OIDC identity provider that permits self-service signup and issues a session before email verification. An attacker identifies a pending invitation address, registers that address with the permissive identity provider, leaves it unverified, and authenticates to Daytona. The attacker then calls the invitation accept endpoint and joins the organization with the role carried by the invitation. No interaction from the legitimate invitee is required.

No public proof-of-concept code is currently available. See the GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-m6hx-cffh-3f3h for vendor technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-54320

Indicators of Compromise

Organization membership events where the joining user's OIDC token lacks email_verified: true
Invitation acceptance from accounts created moments before acceptance with no prior activity
New Owner-level membership additions not initiated by an existing organization administrator
Authentication events from identity providers known to permit pre-verification sessions

Detection Strategies

Audit Daytona organization membership logs for invitation acceptances correlated with unverified OIDC sessions
Review identity provider logs for newly registered accounts that immediately authenticate to Daytona
Compare invitation creation and acceptance timestamps to identify rapid takeovers by accounts with no signup history

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward Daytona authentication and organization audit logs to a centralized SIEM or data lake for correlation
Alert on the addition of Owner or admin roles outside of approved change windows
Monitor OIDC provider telemetry for sessions issued without the email_verified claim set to true

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-54320

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade all Daytona deployments to version 0.184.0 or later
Audit existing organization memberships for unauthorized accounts added via invitation
Revoke pending invitations sent to external domains until the upgrade is complete
Restrict OIDC identity providers to those that require email verification before issuing sessions

Patch Information

The vulnerability is fixed in Daytona 0.184.0. The patch enforces email verification on the invitation accept and decline paths, aligning behavior with organization creation. Refer to the GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-m6hx-cffh-3f3h for full release notes.

Workarounds

Configure the OIDC identity provider to require email verification before issuing access tokens
Disable self-service signup on identity providers federated with Daytona
Limit invitations to email domains controlled by the organization until upgrading to 0.184.0

bash

# Upgrade Daytona to the patched release
daytona version
sudo daytona server stop
# Pull and install Daytona 0.184.0 or later per vendor documentation
daytona server -v 0.184.0