Auth bypass in Akaunting

CVE-2026-16772

In Akaunting versions <= 3.1.21, low‑privileged authenticated users can modify their own account to assign themselves the admin role ID, granting full administrator privileges. This vulnerability is caused by a flaw in the `UpdateUser` job, which processes user-supplied role assignments via an unconditional `roles()->sync()` call without verifying whether the caller is authorized to manage roles. Users only require the default `update-auth-profile` permission to access the self-update path and assign themselves as admins. The API endpoints are properly permission‑gated and are not affected by this issue. This vulnerability has been remediated in v3.2.0, commit 80ef6d3b154a.

Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (14.6th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 15th percentile — 14.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-16772: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-16772?
CVE-2026-16772 is a high-severity vulnerability in Akaunting, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 8.1/10. Published 2026-08-14.
How severe is CVE-2026-16772?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.1 out of 10.