# CVE-2026-52826: Kimai: Improper Authorization in Project, Customer, and Activity Rate Edit Endpoints Allows Cross-Scope Rate Manipulation

> Authenticated users can manipulate billing rates for unauthorized projects, customers, or activities by bypassing parent-child ownership checks.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2xgg-2x8h-8xw4

## What is CVE-2026-52826?

CVE-2026-52826 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in kimai, published on 15 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Kimai is an open-source time tracking application. Prior to 2.57.0, GET or POST requests to /en/admin/project/{id}/rate/{rate}, /en/admin/customer/{id}/rate/{rate}, and /en/admin/activity/{id}/rate/{rate} independently resolve the authorized parent identifier and the attacker-selected child rate identifier without confirming that the ProjectRate, CustomerRate, or ActivityRate belongs to that parent. An authenticated user who can edit one parent object can pair it with a rate record from an unauthorized project, customer, or activity and persist changes to billing configuration in kimai2_projects_rates, kimai2_customers_rates, or kimai2_activities_rates. This issue is fixed in version 2.57.0.

Weakness: CWE-639 (Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key), CWE-285 (Improper Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-52826?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including kimai/kimai.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `kimai/kimai` | Packagist | All versions | 2.57.0 |
| `kimai/kimai` | Packagist | All versions | 2.57.0 |

## How do I fix CVE-2026-52826?

Upgrade kimai/kimai to 2.57.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2026-52826 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-52826 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-52826 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-52826 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in kimai, published on 15 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-52826 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- kimai/kimai (Packagist): affected all versions; fixed in 2.57.0
- kimai/kimai (Packagist): affected all versions; fixed in 2.57.0

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-2026-52826/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-52826/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-52826
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-52826
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-52826

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-52826/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.