mediumCVSS 5.3Vulnerability

CVE-2026-77561

### Summary Tinyauth's login rate-limit bookkeeping can enter a global lockdown mode when its in-memory login-attempt map reaches 256 distinct identifiers. Because unauthenticated `POST /api/user/login` requests for unknown usernames are recorded in this same map, a remote unauthenticated attacker can submit 257 unique bogus usernames and cause valid credentials for unrelated users to be treated as locked until `auth.loginTimeout` expires. This was confirmed against the stable `v5.0.7` release. With default configuration, `auth.loginTimeout` is 300 seconds and `auth.loginMaxRetries` is 3, so the denial lasts about 5 minutes and can be repeated. ### Details In stable `v5.0.7`, the login endpoint is registered at `internal/controller/user_controller.go:45` and accepts unauthenticated JSON credentials in `loginHandler` at `internal/controller/user_controller.go:50`. Before validating credentials, it calls `controller.auth.IsAccountLocked(req.Username)` at `internal/controller/user_controller.go:65`. When a username does not exist, the login handler records a failed login attempt for the attacker-controlled username with `controller.auth.RecordLoginAttempt(req.Username, false)` at `internal/controller/user_controller.go:83`. Invalid passwords for existing users do the same at `internal/controller/user_controller.go:94`. The rate-limit map has a hard cap of 256 records at `internal/service/auth_service.go:29`. `RecordLoginAttempt` checks `len(auth.loginAttempts) >= MaxLoginAttemptRecords` at `internal/service/auth_service.go:261` and, once the cap is reached, launches `auth.lockdownMode()` at `internal/service/auth_service.go:265` instead of evicting old identifiers or rejecting only the new identifier. `lockdownMode` sets a global `auth.lockdown` value with `Active: true` and `ActiveUntil: now + auth.config.LoginTimeout` at `internal/service/auth_service.go:790-804`. `IsAccountLocked` checks this global lockdown before looking up the requested identifier at `inte

Properties

ghsa_id
GHSA-9xhm-w3wj-xhqh
severity
medium
summary
Tinyauth: Unauthenticated login attempts can trigger global login lockdown denial of service
cvss_score
5.3
cve_id
CVE-2026-77561
cvss_vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
signal_observed_at
2026-09-23T04:35:57+00:00
is_ghsa_only
false
ghsa_published
2026-09-22T20:37:11Z
source_url
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9xhm-w3wj-xhqh
ghsa_updated
2026-09-22T20:37:12Z

Related Entities (4)

HAS_WEAKNESS (1)

[Weakness]Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts

REPORTED_BY (1)

[Source]GitHub Advisory Database

VULNERABLE_TO (1)

[Software]go/github.com/steveiliop56/tinyauth

AFFECTS (1)

[Software]go/github.com/steveiliop56/tinyauth

Explore deeper with Ninja Signal's threat intelligence graph

CVE-2026-77561 (CVSS 5.3) — Ninja Signal Threat Intelligence | Ninja Signal