CVE-2026-110622 in Papermerge
Summary
by MITRE • 10/15/2026
Papermerge Core through 3.5.3 contains a missing authorization vulnerability that allows authenticated users to manipulate other users' pages because page management and OCR endpoints skip has_node_perm checks. Attackers knowing page UUIDs can call /pages/, /pages/move, or /pages/extract to rotate, delete, or extract victims' pages, and trigger OCR via /tasks/ocr.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/15/2026
Papermerge Core versions through 3.5.3 are affected by a critical missing authorization vulnerability that stems from the absence of proper access control checks on several core document management endpoints. This flaw allows authenticated users to perform unauthorized operations on documents and pages belonging to other users within the same instance. The root cause lies in the implementation of specific API endpoints, namely those handling page manipulation and optical character recognition tasks, which fail to invoke the necessary permission verification functions such as has_node_perm before executing state-changing actions. This oversight creates a significant security gap where the system trusts user input regarding resource ownership without validating whether the requesting user actually holds the required permissions for that specific node or document.
The technical impact of this vulnerability is severe because it enables authenticated attackers to manipulate, delete, rotate, or extract pages from documents they do not own. By leveraging known page Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs), an attacker can interact with endpoints such as /pages/, /pages/move, and /pages/extract to alter the structure and content of other users' document collections. Furthermore, the vulnerability extends to task management through the /tasks/ocr endpoint, allowing attackers to trigger Optical Character Recognition processes on documents they lack permission to access. This capability not only compromises data integrity by allowing unauthorized modifications but also poses a risk to confidentiality as page extraction can lead to the disclosure of sensitive information contained within those pages.
From an industry standard perspective, this vulnerability is classified under CWE-269, which denotes Improper Privilege Control or Missing Authorization. The attack vector aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078, specifically Valid Accounts, as it requires initial authentication but exploits the lack of proper authorization checks to escalate privileges and access restricted resources. The ability to move pages between documents also touches upon CWE-264 Permissions, Assumptions Errors, highlighting a failure in enforcing security policies at the application logic level rather than just through network or system-level controls.
The operational impact includes potential data loss if attackers delete critical pages, as well as significant privacy breaches when sensitive document contents are extracted by unauthorized parties. Additionally, triggering OCR on documents without permission can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service conditions due to the computational intensity of image processing tasks. This vulnerability undermines the fundamental trust model of multi-tenant or shared-document environments where users expect isolation of their data from other tenants or colleagues within the same system instance.
To mitigate this risk, immediate patching to a version of Papermerge Core that includes fixes for these authorization checks is required. Administrators should ensure that all page management and OCR endpoints are configured to strictly validate user permissions against the target resource before allowing any modifications. Implementing robust access control lists that enforce row-level security on database records associated with pages can also help prevent unauthorized access even if application logic flaws persist temporarily. Regular security audits focusing on API endpoint authorization flows are recommended to identify similar gaps in other parts of the system, ensuring that all state-changing operations adhere to the principle of least privilege and verify ownership or permission rights explicitly before execution.