# CVE-2019-3990: Missing authorization in Harbor

> Attackers can bypass administrator restrictions on the users API to enumerate registered users in Harbor container registries.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Dec 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6qj9-33j4-rvhg

## What is CVE-2019-3990?

CVE-2019-3990 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Harbor, published on 3 Dec 2019. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A User Enumeration flaw exists in Harbor. The issue is present in the "/users" API endpoint. This endpoint is supposed to be restricted to administrators. This restriction is able to be bypassed and information can be obtained about registered users can be obtained via the "search" functionality.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-3990?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linuxfoundation Harbor.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-3990?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-3990 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-3990 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-3990 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Harbor

- [CVE-2026-4404](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-4404/): Use of hard coded credentials in GoHarbor Harbor (critical 9.4)
- [CVE-2019-19023](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-19023/): Privilege Escalation in Cloud Native Computing Foundation Harbor (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-19025](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-19025/): Cross-site Request Forgery (CSRF) in Cloud Native Computing Foundation Harbor (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-17697](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17697/): Server-side request forgery in n/a (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2022-31666](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31666/): Harbor fails to validate user permissions while Viewing, updating and deleting Webhook policies (high 7.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-3990 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-3990 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Harbor, published on 3 Dec 2019. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-3990 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Harbor. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3990/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3990/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-3990
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-3990
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-3990

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3990/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.