Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-52586

Auth Bypass in Elabftw 4.6.0 – 5.1.9

Auth Bypass
Published
09 December 2024
Modified
15 August 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0021 12th percentile
Risk Priority 42 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-52586 is a medium-severity Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (CWE-288) vulnerability in Elabftw Elabftw. Its CVSS base score is 5.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 12th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-25 (Reference Monitor) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

eLabFTW is an open source electronic lab notebook for research labs. A vulnerability has been found starting in version 4.6.0 and prior to version 5.1.0 that allows an attacker to bypass eLabFTW's built-in multifactor authentication mechanism. An attacker who can…

more

authenticate locally (by knowing or guessing the password of a user) can thus log in regardless of MFA requirements. This does not affect MFA that are performed by single sign-on services. Users are advised to upgrade to at least version 5.1.9 to receive a fix.

CWE(s)
CWE-288CWE-303

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1133 External Remote Services Persistence
Adversaries may leverage external-facing remote services to initially access and/or persist within a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1542.002 Component Firmware Stealth
Adversaries may modify component firmware to persist on systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1556 Modify Authentication Process Defense Impairment
Adversaries may modify authentication mechanisms and processes to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-25206Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2026-28510Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2024-28100Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2024-45408Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2024-47826Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2026-28511Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2024-25632Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2024-25633Same product: Elabftw Elabftw
CVE-2023-42770Shared CWE-288
CVE-2024-50487Shared CWE-288

Affected Assets

elabftw
elabftw
4.6.0 — 5.1.9

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 7 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.4.3
  • V6.6.1
  • V12.1.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-25 Reference Monitor good match

Requires a tamperproof, always-invoked reference monitor that structurally blocks bypass via any alternate path.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

Enforces authorization checks on every logical access path, eliminating unauthenticated alternate channels.

IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) good match

Mandates unique identification and authentication for all organizational users, covering the primary authentication requirement.

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation at post-design stages directly uncovers incorrect implementations of required authentication algorithms.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development processes, standards, and tools reduces the chance that an established authentication algorithm is coded incorrectly.

SC-7 Boundary Protection partial match

Controls all external and key internal interfaces, reducing the chance of unauthenticated alternate channels.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-03 full match
prevents

Requiring authentication on every channel and path directly eliminates alternate-path bypasses.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Enforcing authorizations and least privilege across all access vectors prevents unauthenticated alternate paths.

PR.IR-01 mostly match
prevents

Protecting networks and environments from unauthorized logical access blocks bypass via undocumented channels.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require correct implementation of authentication algorithms.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.5 Secure authentication full match
degrades

Secure authentication control directly requires correct implementation of authentication algorithms.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect alternate-path bypasses but does not prevent them in production.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access control policy directly addresses alternate authentication paths by requiring all channels to enforce authentication.

A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
degrades

Authentication information management ensures credentials and mechanisms are consistently applied across all access paths.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
prevents

Access rights provisioning and review prevent bypass via unmonitored or alternate channels.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights partial match
prevents

Privileged access rights control reduces risk of bypass through elevated or alternate paths.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248598 There must be no ".shosts" files on the OL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-288
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-288
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
  • V-271757 OL 9 file systems must not contain shosts.equiv files. prevents CWE-288
  • V-271758 OL 9 file systems must not contain .shosts files. prevents CWE-288
RHEL 7 (3 rules)
  • V-204440 Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems version 7.2 or newer using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-288
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-288
  • V-204424 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords. prevents CWE-288

References