Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-40474

Access Control in Wger ≤ 2.5

Public PoCAccess Control
Published
17 April 2026
Modified
24 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.6
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:H/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0033 26th percentile
Risk Priority 56 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-40474 is a high-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Wger Wger. Its CVSS base score is 7.6 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 26th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

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-2026-40474 affects wger, a free open-source workout and fitness manager, in versions 2.5 and below. The vulnerability stems from the GymConfigUpdateView class, which declares a permission requirement of 'config.change_gymconfig' but inherits from WgerFormMixin rather than WgerPermissionMixin. This misconfiguration results in the permission never being enforced at runtime. GymConfig operates as an ownerless singleton model, enabling unauthorized modifications to the global gym configuration and triggering save() side effects that bulk-update user profile gym assignments, constituting a vertical privilege escalation to installation-wide configuration control. The issue is associated with CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) and CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.6 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:L).

Any authenticated user with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. Attackers can submit updates to the GymConfigUpdateView endpoint, bypassing permission checks to alter global gym settings. Successful exploitation grants control over installation-wide configuration, including side effects that reassign gyms across all user profiles, potentially disrupting fitness data, user access, or operational settings for the entire wger instance.

The vulnerability is fixed in wger version 2.5, as detailed in the project's GitHub security advisory (GHSA-xppv-4jrx-qf8m), release notes, and the fixing commit (47ee5af93b3ced24b9f94b0a8b9296b50bc9523f). Security practitioners should upgrade to version 2.5 or later and verify that custom deployments enforce proper permission mixins for similar views.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

wger is a free, open-source workout and fitness manager. In versions 2.5 and below, the GymConfigUpdateView declares permission_required = 'config.change_gymconfig' but inherits WgerFormMixin instead of WgerPermissionMixin, so the permission is never enforced at runtime. Since GymConfig is an ownerless singleton,…

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any authenticated user can modify the global gym configuration, triggering save() side effects that bulk-update user profile gym assignments — a vertical privilege escalation to installation-wide configuration control. This issue is fixed in version 2.5.

CWE(s)

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.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1021 Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
T1021.001 Remote Desktop Protocol Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
T1021.002 SMB/Windows Admin Shares Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
T1021.003 Distributed Component Object Model Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-4431Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2025-53112Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2026-5230Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2025-47792Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2024-1044Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2023-6966Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2024-1053Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2025-66735Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2025-53111Shared CWE-284, CWE-862
CVE-2024-12370Shared CWE-284, CWE-862

Affected Assets

wger
wger
≤ 2.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 13 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V10.3.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Directly enforces approved authorizations for logical access, stopping unauthorized actors from reaching resources.

AC-24 mandates that access control decisions are applied to each request, preventing bypass of authorization logic.

AC-25 requires a tamperproof, always-invoked reference monitor that ensures authorization checks cannot be omitted.

Enforces flow-control policies that restrict information movement between subjects and objects.

Documents duties and assigns access so that no single account can bypass intended restrictions.

Limits each account to the minimum privileges needed, reducing the chance of unauthorized access.

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-05 full match
prevents

Explicitly requires defining, enforcing, and reviewing authorizations and least privilege, directly preventing missing authorization checks.

PR.PS-01 mostly match
prevents

Hardened baselines and deviation monitoring directly eliminate most configuration-induced access-control defects, yet CWE-284 also encompasses code-level and design flaws outside the scope of configuration management alone.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices catch most access-control defects during design/coding/testing (mostly), yet leave residual risk from runtime configuration, architecture, and operational controls (partial).

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies managed identities/credentials that support but do not implement access-control decisions, so it only partially prevents CWE-284 in either direction.

PR.AA-03 partial match
prevents

Authentication directly blocks unauthenticated actors (partial prevention of CWE-284) but leaves authorization logic, policy enforcement, and role checks untouched, so the control neither eliminates nor fully mitigates the broader weakness.

PR.DS-01 partial match
prevents

PR.DS-01 encryption mitigates impact of failed access checks on stored data but neither implements nor constrains access-control logic itself.

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.

prevents

Defining and enforcing explicit access rights and restrictions for each entity directly stops the assignment of permissions that exceed what is required, eliminating the root condition that allows improper access control.

prevents

Formal authorization, role-based provisioning, and timely revocation of access rights directly stop the creation of accounts or permissions that exceed what the business actually needs.

prevents

By enforcing explicit rules on which identities or groups may perform read, write, delete or execute operations and by denying anonymous access to sensitive data, the control directly stops the creation of overly permissive or missing access-control checks.

prevents

Requiring one-to-one mapping of identities to entities and timely removal of unused identities directly stops attackers from leveraging stale or shared accounts to bypass access restrictions.

prevents

By explicitly transferring security roles and responsibilities when personnel change jobs or leave, the control reduces the chance that former employees retain access rights they no longer need, thereby limiting improper access control.

prevents

Physical entry controls enforce explicit authorization and authentication at every access point, directly stopping unauthorized actors from reaching information-processing assets.

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 (4 rules)
  • V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
  • V-248597 There must be no "shosts.equiv" files on the OL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284
  • V-248598 There must be no ".shosts" files on the OL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
  • V-271758 OL 9 file systems must not contain .shosts files. prevents CWE-284
  • V-271757 OL 9 file systems must not contain shosts.equiv files. prevents CWE-284
RHEL 7 (4 rules)
  • V-251704 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
  • V-204429 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
  • V-204606 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not contain .shosts files. prevents CWE-284
RHEL 8 (2 rules)
  • V-230283 There must be no shosts.equiv files on the RHEL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284
  • V-230284 There must be no .shosts files on the RHEL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-284

References