Insecure Default Initialization of Resource in kimai2 - CVE-2026-52824
Published: June 29, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU135847
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-52824
CWE-ID: CWE-1188
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Kevin Papst
Affected software:
kimai2
kimai2
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to take over any account.
The vulnerability exists due to initialization of a resource with an insecure default in the Docker image APP_SECRET configuration when handling HMAC-signed cookies and login links. A remote attacker can forge authentication cookies or login links to take over any account.
Exploitation requires that the instance is deployed with the default APP_SECRET unchanged, the attacker knows a username, can guess the corresponding account ID, and the targeted account does not have active two-factor authentication.
How to mitigate CVE-2026-52824
Install security update from vendor's website.