Gogs Vulnerable to CSRF Leading to Organization Owner Takeover
Published June 23, 2026Updated July 21, 2026Source: osv
Summary
## Summary
In **Gogs 0.14.1**, organization team member management can be performed via **GET requests without CSRF protection**.
If a victim who is an **organization owner** is logged in and is tricked into visiting a crafted link, an attacker-controlled user can be added to the **Owners** team. As a result, the attacker gains **organization owner–equivalent privileges**.
---
## Description
When a victim is logged in as an organization owner, **team member management endpoints are exposed via routes reachable by GET requests**, allowing state-changing operations without a CSRF token.
### Team action route allows GET
`internal/cmd/web.go:390`
```go
m.Route("/teams/:team/action/:action", "GET,POST", org.TeamsAction)
```
### CSRF validation is applied only to POST requests
Because the global CSRF check is limited to POST requests, state-changing operations reached via GET bypass CSRF protection entirely.
`internal/context/auth.go:56-61`
```go
if !options.SignOutRequired && !options.DisableCSRF &&
c.Req.Method == "POST" && !isAPIPath(c.Req.URL.Path) {
csrf.Validate(c.Context, c.csrf)
if c.Written() {
return
}
}
```
### TeamsAction performs state changes regardless of HTTP method
`TeamsAction` does not branch on the HTTP method. Instead, it performs state-changing operations (such as adding or removing members) based solely on query parameters (`uid`, `uname`) and the `:action` path parameter.
Since the route explicitly allows GET, the `add` action can be executed via GET.
`internal/route/org/teams.go:38-83`
```go
func TeamsAction(c *context.Context) {
uid := com.StrTo(c.Query("uid")).MustInt64()
if uid == 0 {
c.Redirect(c.Org.OrgLink + "/teams")
return
}
page := c.Query("page")
var err error
switch c.Params(":action") {
case "add":
if !c.Org.IsOwner {
c.NotFound()
return
}
uname := c.Query("uname")
var u *database.User
u, err = database.Handle.Users().GetByUsername(c.Req.Context(), uname)
// ...
err = c.Org.Team.AddMember(u.ID)
page = "team"
}
}
```
### Adding a user to the Owners team grants organization owner privileges
When a user joins the **Owners** team, `OrgUser.IsOwner` is set to `true`. Therefore, adding a user to the Owners team directly results in granting organization owner–equivalent privileges.
`internal/database/org_team.go:566-576`
```go
ou := new(OrgUser)
if _, err = sess.Where("uid = ?", userID).
And("org_id = ?", orgID).Get(ou); err != nil {
return err
}
ou.NumTeams++
if t.IsOwnerTeam() {
ou.IsOwner = true
}
if _, err = sess.ID(ou.ID).AllCols().Update(ou); err != nil {
return err
}
```
### Related issue: organization member actions are also state-changing via GET
For reference, organization member management endpoints are also exposed as GET routes that perform state changes without CSRF protection.
`internal/cmd/web.go:382`
```go
m.Get("/members/action/:action", org.MembersAction)
```
`MembersAction` similarly does not branch on HTTP method and performs state-changing operations (public/private toggle, remove, leave) based on query parameters and the `:action` path parameter.
`internal/route/org/members.go:31-71`
```go
func MembersAction(c *context.Context) {
uid := com.StrTo(c.Query("uid")).MustInt64()
if uid == 0 {
c.Redirect(c.Org.OrgLink + "/members")
return
}
org := c.Org.Organization
var err error
switch c.Params(":action") {
case "private":
err = database.ChangeOrgUserStatus(org.ID, uid, false)
case "public":
err = database.ChangeOrgUserStatus(org.ID, uid, true)
case "remove":
err = org.RemoveMember(uid)
case "leave":
err = org.RemoveMember(c.User.ID)
}
}
```
---
## Steps to Reproduce
1. Prepare a target user account to be added (e.g., `attacker`).
2. Confirm that the victim user is an **owner** of the target organization (e.g., `org3`) and is logged in.
3. Cause the victim’s browser to perform a **top-level navigation** to the following URL:
```
http://localhost:10880/org/org3/teams/owners/action/add?uid=1&uname=attacker
```
<img width="2019" height="322" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/342a627a-04e8-47bd-818a-9c2b05a75446" />
4. After the request completes, verify that the `attacker` user can access:
```
http://localhost:10880/org/org3/settings
```
confirming that organization owner privileges have been obtained.
<img width="2010" height="285" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/03945bb1-e9c5-4e42-ad3a-9f6d63b7d86d" />
<img width="2016" height="893" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/55d7db13-52cf-471b-a6d3-aa4186c8b547" />
---
## Impact
Successful exploitation allows an attacker to obtain **organization owner privileges**, resulting in:
* Full control over organization repositories, settings, and members
* Unauthorized access to private repositories (confidentiality impact)
* Modification or deletion of repositories and settings (integrity impact)
* Repository deletion or disruption leading to service unavailability (availability impact)
Remediation
Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.
Go
Update gogs.io/gogs to 0.14.3 or later
go get gogs.io/gogs@v0.14.3
After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.
Gogs Vulnerable to CSRF Leading to Organization Owner Takeover This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of HIGH (CVSS score: 8.8/10).
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Severity & Exploitability
CVSS Score
8.8
High exploitability or significant impact. Prioritize remediation within days.