CVE-2026-52824
Kimai: Default APP_SECRET in Docker Image Enables Cookie Forgery and Account Takeover
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 9.1 Critical
- Published
- Sep 15, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 16, 2026
- Reserved
- Jun 8, 2026
Description
Kimai is an open-source time tracking application. Prior to 2.58.0, the official Docker image sets APP_SECRET to the public value change_this_to_something_unique in Dockerfile, and .docker/entrypoint.sh neither replaces nor rejects that value before Symfony uses it as kernel.secret. An unauthenticated attacker who reaches a deployment that did not override APP_SECRET, knows a username, correctly guesses the account ID associated with that username, and targets an account without active two-factor authentication can forge HMAC-protected authentication artifacts, including KIMAI_REMEMBER cookies and login links, to access the account without its password. The updated entrypoint generates and persists a random secret when no safe operator-provided value exists. This issue is fixed in version 2.58.0.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 9.1 Critical | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N | GitHub_M |
Weaknesses
- CWE-1188 Insecure Default Initialization of Resource
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
kimaikimai |
|
References
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