CVE-2026-27981
Sysadminsmedia Homebox ≤ 0.24.0
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-27981 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (CWE-307) vulnerability in Sysadminsmedia Homebox. Its CVSS base score is 7.4 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Brute Force (T1110); ranked at the 18th 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-7 (Unsuccessful Logon Attempts) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-27981 is a vulnerability in HomeBox, a home inventory and organization system, affecting versions prior to 0.24.0. The issue resides in the authentication rate limiter (authRateLimiter), which tracks failed login attempts per client IP address. The client IP is determined by reading the X-Real-IP header first, followed by the first entry of the X-Forwarded-For header, and finally the r.RemoteAddr (TCP connection address). These headers are read unconditionally, enabling an attacker connecting directly to Homebox to forge the X-Real-IP value and obtain a fresh rate limit identity per request. The TrustProxy configuration option (default false) exists but is not read by the rate limiter or any middleware, and chi's middleware.RealIP is applied unconditionally in main.go, overwriting r.RemoteAddr with the forged header value before it reaches handlers.
An unauthenticated attacker with network access to the Homebox instance (AV:N/PR:N/UI:N) can exploit this vulnerability, though it requires high attack complexity (AC:H). By forging IP headers on each request, the attacker bypasses rate limiting on authentication attempts, facilitating brute-force attacks to guess credentials. This can result in unauthorized access, leading to high impacts on confidentiality and integrity (C:H/I:H) with no availability impact (A:N), as reflected in the CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.4.
The vulnerability is addressed in HomeBox version 0.24.0. Security practitioners are advised to upgrade to this version or later to mitigate the issue. Additional details are available in the GitHub Security Advisory at https://github.com/sysadminsmedia/homebox/security/advisories/GHSA-j86g-v96v-jpp3.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-9346
Vulnerability Data
HomeBox is a home inventory and organization system. Prior to 0.24.0, the authentication rate limiter (authRateLimiter) tracks failed attempts per client IP. It determines the client IP by reading, 1. X-Real-IP header, 2. First entry of X-Forwarded-For header, and 3.…
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r.RemoteAddr (TCP connection address). These headers were read unconditionally. An attacker connecting directly to Homebox could forge any value in X-Real-IP, effectively getting a fresh rate limit identity per request. There is a TrustProxy option in the configuration (Options.TrustProxy, default false), but this option was never read by any middleware or rate limiter code. Additionally, chi's middleware.RealIP was applied unconditionally in main.go, overwriting r.RemoteAddr with the forged header value before it reaches any handler. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.24.0.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
AC-7 directly enforces limits on consecutive failed logons, structurally blocking brute-force exploitation of the weakness.
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.
Authentication enforcement directly includes lockout, throttling, and MFA policies that prevent brute-force attempts.
Behavioral monitoring of authentication activity can detect excessive failed attempts after they occur.
Generating auth logs enables later detection or forensics but does not itself restrict attempts.
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.
CAPTCHA, account lock-out after repeated failures, and alerts on excessive attempts directly stop automated brute-force guessing of credentials.
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).
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
- V-204427 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured to lock accounts for a minimum of 15 minutes after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a 15-minute timeframe. prevents CWE-307
- V-204428 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must lock the associated account after three unsuccessful root logon attempts are made within a 15-minute period. prevents CWE-307