# CVE-2026-104198: ZoneMinder failed token handling bypasses web authentication

> Attackers can bypass web authentication in ZoneMinder by exploiting flawed token handling, gaining unauthorized access to monitor and zone metadata.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-104198, GHSA-23fj-frfw-hmcr, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-104198

## What is CVE-2026-104198?

CVE-2026-104198 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in zoneminder, published on 15 Oct 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

ZoneMinder is a free, open source closed-circuit television software application. In versions 1.34.0 through 1.36.38, the web interface mishandles failed token authentication in web/includes/auth.php. validateToken() returns false when a token is malformed or has an invalid signature, but the caller assigns that value to the global $user variable; because web/index.php tests isset($user), boolean false is treated as a present user and the normal login redirect is skipped. This can dispatch views that rely on the outer authentication gate, including the zones view, which accepts an attacker-selected monitor ID and discloses monitor and zone metadata without an independent permission check. Permission helpers receive the false user value and deny privileged operations, so unauthorized state changes have not been established. This vulnerability is fixed in version 1.36.63, where conversion to ZM\User objects causes invalid token state to fail before view dispatch. Later defense-in-depth changes explicitly leave $user unset after failed token validation and reject non-ZM\User values at the web authentication gate.

Weakness: CWE-697 (Incorrect Comparison), CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-104198?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-104198?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-104198 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-104198 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-104198 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-104198 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-104198 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in zoneminder, published on 15 Oct 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-104198 exists.

Affected product: zoneminder. 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-2026-104198/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-104198/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-104198
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-104198
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-104198

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-104198/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.