Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-39331 is a high-severity Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (CWE-639) vulnerability in Churchcrm Churchcrm. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); 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-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — 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-2026-39331 affects ChurchCRM, an open-source church management system, in versions prior to 7.1.0. The vulnerability stems from missing role-based access control (RBAC) in several API endpoints, including /family/{familyId}/verify, /family/{familyId}/verify/url, /family/{familyId}/verify/now, /family/{familyId}/activate/{status}, and /family/{familyId}/geocode. This allows an authenticated API user to modify the state of any family record simply by altering the {familyId} parameter in requests, bypassing required privileges such as EditRecords. It is rated 8.1 on the CVSS 3.1 scale (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H) and maps to CWE-639 (Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key) and CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization).
An attacker with low-privilege authenticated access to the ChurchCRM API can exploit this issue remotely over the network with minimal complexity and no user interaction required. By manipulating the familyId parameter, they can deactivate or reactivate arbitrary family records, spam verification emails to targeted families, prematurely mark families as verified, or trigger geocoding operations. This leads to high integrity and availability impacts, enabling unauthorized data manipulation and potential denial-of-service effects through resource exhaustion via repeated verification or geocoding requests.
The ChurchCRM security advisory at https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM/security/advisories/GHSA-vwh8-x823-wjc5 confirms the issue and states that it is fixed in version 7.1.0, recommending immediate upgrades to mitigate the vulnerability.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-19826
Vulnerability Data
ChurchCRM is an open-source church management system. Prior to 7.1.0, an authenticated API user can modify any family record's state without proper authorization by simply changing the {familyId} parameter in requests, regardless of whether they possess the required EditRecords privilege.…
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/family/{familyId}/verify, /family/{familyId}/verify/url, /family/{familyId}/verify/now, /family/{familyId}/activate/{status}, and /family/{familyId}/geocode lack role-based access control, allowing users to deactivate/reactivate arbitrary families, spam verification emails, and mark families as verified and trigger geocoding. This vulnerability is fixed in 7.1.0.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforcing approved authorizations on every access request structurally stops a user-controlled key from reaching another user's data.
Requiring explicit access-control decisions on each request blocks unauthorized key-driven access.
A reference monitor that is always invoked and tamper-proof forces every authorization decision through a verified, correct path.
Least-privilege restrictions limit the scope of data reachable even if a key check is bypassed.
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.
Enforcing authorization policy and least privilege directly blocks user-controlled key tampering that bypasses access checks.
Logical access controls prevent unauthorized data access that results from missing authorization checks on object references.
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.
Security testing can detect missing authorization checks but does not prevent the weakness in production.
Information access restriction explicitly enforces that users may only retrieve data they are authorized to see, directly addressing user-controlled key bypass.
Access control policy directly requires enforcement of authorization rules that prevent unauthorized access via manipulated keys.
Managing access rights includes ensuring users can only access their own records and not bypass authorization by altering identifiers.
Privileged access rights control restricts what data each user may access, mitigating direct object reference attacks.
Secure development lifecycle includes authorization design but does not itself implement runtime access checks.
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-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
- V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
- V-204430 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must re-authenticate for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-251712 The RHEL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863