CVE-2026-45716 Budibase: Builder-to-Admin Privilege Escalation via onboardUsers Endpoint Without SMTP Configuration
A builder user can escalate to admin by creating accounts via the onboard endpoint when SMTP is unconfigured, allowing full platform takeover.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-45716?
CVE-2026-45716 is a high-severity vulnerability in budibase, published on 27 May 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Budibase is an open-source low-code platform. Prior to 3.38.1, the POST /api/global/users/onboard endpoint is protected by workspaceBuilderOrAdmin middleware, allowing any user with builder permissions to access it. When SMTP email is not configured (the default for self-hosted Budibase instances), this endpoint bypasses the admin-restricted invite flow and directly creates users via bulkCreate, accepting arbitrary admin and builder role assignments from the request body. A builder-level user can create a new global admin account and receive the generated password in the response, achieving full privilege escalation. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.38.1.
Weakness: CWE-269
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45716?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including @budibase/worker.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
@budibase/worker npm | All versions | 3.38.1 |
@budibase/worker npm | All versions | 3.38.1 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-45716?
Upgrade @budibase/worker to 3.38.1 or later.
Is CVE-2026-45716 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45716 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-c54j-xp92-wh28.