CVE-2026-109654 in ERPNext
Summary
by MITRE • 10/13/2026
Frappe ERPNext before 15.119.0 and 16.x before 16.31.0 contains a missing authorization vulnerability in which certain endpoints fail to verify that the caller may read a document before sending transactional email about it. Authenticated attackers can call these endpoints to trigger transactional email for documents they are not permitted to read.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/13/2026
The identified security flaw resides within Frappe ERPNext versions prior to 15.119.0 and the 16.x series before version 16.31.0, representing a critical failure in access control mechanisms for transactional email functionalities. This vulnerability is classified as a missing authorization issue where the application logic fails to enforce proper permission checks on specific API endpoints responsible for triggering emails related to document updates or notifications. In a properly secured system, any action that involves sensitive data exposure must verify that the requesting user possesses the necessary read permissions for the target resource before proceeding with the operation. However, in these affected versions of ERPNext, the email dispatch mechanism operates independently of the standard permission validation layer used by other parts of the application interface.
From a technical perspective, this architectural oversight allows authenticated users to exploit the discrepancy between data access controls and communication triggers. An attacker who has valid credentials for any user account within the system can invoke these specific endpoints with parameters referencing documents they do not have explicit read privileges for. Because the endpoint does not cross-reference the caller's permissions against the document's access control list, it proceeds to generate and send transactional emails containing information about that restricted document. This effectively bypasses the intended security boundaries established by the system administrators through role-based access controls, turning a standard notification feature into an unauthorized data exfiltration vector.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations relying on ERPNext for sensitive business operations such as finance, human resources, or supply chain management. Transactional emails often contain detailed information about records including financial figures, employee personal details, contract terms, or inventory levels. By exploiting this flaw, an attacker can harvest confidential data without needing elevated privileges or compromising other accounts. This leads to a direct violation of confidentiality requirements and potentially exposes the organization to regulatory non-compliance under frameworks such as GDPR or HIPAA if sensitive personal health information or personally identifiable information is disclosed. Furthermore, the ability to trigger emails for restricted documents could be leveraged in social engineering attacks by providing attackers with accurate internal context that they should not possess, thereby increasing the success rate of subsequent phishing attempts against other employees.
This vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-284 Improper Access Control and specifically relates to insufficient verification of user authorization before performing actions on protected resources. In terms of adversary behavior mapping, this exploitation technique corresponds to ATT&CK tactic T1530 Data from Cloud Storage or T1005 Data from Local System depending on the deployment model, as it involves exfiltrating data through an indirect channel rather than direct database queries. The use of email services for data leakage is a sophisticated method that may evade traditional perimeter security monitoring tools focused on network traffic patterns associated with standard API calls or file downloads.
To mitigate this risk, organizations running affected versions must immediately upgrade to Frappe ERPNext version 15.119.0 or later, which includes the necessary patches for these endpoints. For environments where immediate upgrading is not feasible due to operational constraints, administrators should implement strict network-level controls such as web application firewalls that can detect and block anomalous email trigger patterns associated with unauthorized document references. Additionally, reviewing audit logs for unusual spikes in transactional emails sent from specific user accounts or targeting restricted document types can help identify ongoing exploitation attempts. It is also recommended to review the configuration of outgoing mail servers to ensure they do not allow relaying that could be abused by internal compromised accounts, although this does not replace the need for patching the underlying application logic flaw.