Vikjuna Bypasses Webhook SSRF Protections During OpenID Connect Avatar Download
The DownloadImage function in pkg/utils/avatar.go uses a bare http.Client{} with no SSRF protection when downloading user avatar images from the OpenID Connect picture claim URL. An attacker who controls their OIDC profile picture URL can force the Vikunja server to make HTTP GET requests to arbitrary internal or cloud metadata endpoints. This bypasses the SSRF protections that are correctly applied to the webhook system.
When a user authenticates via OpenID Connect, Vikunja extracts the picture claim from the ID token or UserInfo endpoint and passes it to syncUserAvatarFromOpenID, which calls utils.DownloadImage with the attacker-controlled URL:
Claim extraction (pkg/modules/auth/openid/openid.go:70-78):
```go
type claims struct {
Email string json:"email"
Name string json:"name"
PreferredUsername string json:"preferred_username"
Nickname string json:"nickname"
VikunjaGroups []map[string]interface{} json:"vikunja_groups"
Picture string json:"picture"
// ...
}
```
Avatar sync trigger (pkg/modules/auth/openid/openid.go:348-352):
```go
// Try sync avatar if available
err = syncUserAvatarFromOpenID(s, u, cl.Picture)
if err != nil {
log.Errorf("Error syncing avatar for user %s: %v", u.Username, err)
}
```
Vulnerable download (pkg/utils/avatar.go:94-115):
```go
func DownloadImage(url string) ([]byte, error) {
ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 3*time.Second)
defer cancel()
req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, url, nil)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create HTTP request: %w", err)
}
resp, err := (&http.Client{}).Do(req) // No SSRF protection
// ...
return io.ReadAll(resp.Body) // No size limit
}
```
In contrast, the webhook system correctly applies SSRF protection (pkg/models/webhooks.go:306-310):
```go
if !config.WebhooksAllowNonRoutableIPs.GetBool() {
guardian := ssrf.New(ssrf.WithAnyPort())
transport.DialContext = (&net.Dialer{
Control: guardian.Safe,
}).DialContext
}
```
The avatar download path has none of this protection. There is no URL scheme validation, no IP address filtering, and no response body size limit.
Prerequisites: A Vikunja instance with OpenID Connect configured (e.g., Keycloak, Authentik). Attacker has an account on the OIDC provider.
Step 1: Set up a listener to observe incoming requests:
```bash
# On attacker-controlled server or internal service
nc -lvp 8888
```
Step 2: In the OIDC provider (e.g., Keycloak admin), update the attacker's user profile picture URL to an internal address:
```
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/
```
Or to probe internal services:
```
http://internal-service:8888/admin
```
Step 3: Log in to Vikunja via the OIDC provider. After the callback completes, the Vikunja server will make a GET request from its own network context to the URL set in the picture claim.
Step 4: Observe the request arriving at the internal endpoint or listener. The request originates from the Vikunja server's IP, bypassing any network-level access controls that allow Vikunja server traffic.
Cloud metadata example (AWS):
```
# Set picture URL to:
http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/
# Vikunja server makes GET to this URL from its own network context
# The response is read into memory (io.ReadAll) before image.Decode fails
# The HTTP request itself reaches the metadata service
```
169.254.169.254, GCP, Azure equivalents) from the Vikunja server's network position, potentially leaking IAM credentials, instance identity tokens, and configuration data.io.ReadAll call with no size limit means pointing the URL at a large resource could cause memory exhaustion on the Vikunja server, though the 3-second timeout partially mitigates this.Apply the same SSRF protection used in webhooks to DownloadImage, and add a response body size limit:
```go
// pkg/utils/avatar.go
import (
"net"
"code.dny.dev/ssrf"
)
func DownloadImage(url string) ([]byte, error) {
ctx, cancel
This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is changed, meaning a successful attack can affect components beyond the vulnerable one. Rated impact: confidentiality low, integrity none, availability low.
The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:L
CVE-2026-33679 is classified as CWE-918: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF). The server fetches a URL supplied by the caller, which can be pointed at internal systems it alone can reach.
CVE-2026-33679 is recorded against 2 packages.
Published on 26 March 2026 and last revised on 30 March 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
github.com (Web)
vikunja.io (Web)
code.vikunja.io/api has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:
These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-918: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)) in other software:
Details
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:L
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| code.vikunja.io/api | — | — |
| vikunja | — | 2.2.1 |
References
Similar Threats
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