GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go
GHSA-vc32-4gwf-77xp Nginx UI: OTP secure-session step-up can be bypassed via MCP configuration tools
HIGH
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-84360
- Ecosystem
- Go
- Packages
- github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI
- Severity
- High
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
- Weaknesses
- CWE-288
- Reviewed
- 2026-10-15
Affected packages
• Go github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI: < 1.9.10-0.20260703131214-23d1934099b0 → fixed in 1.9.10-0.20260703131214-23d1934099b0
Description
Summary
An OTP-enabled authenticated user who cannot use the HTTP configuration mutation endpoints without a valid secure session can still mutate Nginx configuration through `/mcp` and `/mcp_message` using only ordinary authentication.
Details
The HTTP configuration mutation surface is explicitly grouped behind `middleware.RequireSecureSession()`. By contrast, the MCP endpoints are exposed with only `middleware.AuthRequired()`. The MCP server exposes configuration mutation tools including `nginx_config_add` and `nginx_config_modify`, so OTP-enabled users gain an alternate path around the intended step-up requirement.
Relevant code paths:
• api/config/router.go
• internal/middleware/secure_session.go
• mcp/router.go
• mcp/config/config_add.go
• mcp/config/config_modify.go
This is a security-control bypass rather than a missing feature. The product already established that OTP-enabled users should complete a secure session before high-impact configuration mutations are accepted on the HTTP path.
PoC
I verified this locally in an isolated environment with a temporary end-to-end harness that exercised the real `/mcp` and `/mcp_message` routes.
What the executed test did:
1. Created a temporary config directory and configured Nginx control commands to harmless local values (`true`) to avoid touching the host.
2. Created a real OTP-enabled user in a temporary SQLite database.
3. Generated a real JWT for that OTP-enabled user.
4. Started a local test server exposing the real `/mcp` and `/mcp_message` routes.
5. Opened an authenticated SSE connection to `/mcp` with the JWT and no `X-Secure-Session-ID`.
6. Initialized the MCP session over `/mcp_message`.
7. Called the real `nginx_config_add` tool over `/mcp_message`.
8. Verified that the tool succeeded and created `mcp-bypass.conf` in the managed config directory without any secure-session step-up.
Observed result from the actual local verification:
• The MCP session initialized successfully without any `X-Secure-Session-ID`.
• The config file was written through the MCP tool path using only JWT authentication.
Impact
OTP-enabled accounts lose the intended step-up protection for high-impact Nginx configuration changes when MCP is enabled. A user who should be blocked until re-authenticating can still create or modify configuration files and trigger reload behavior through MCP.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-84360 Nginx UI is a web user interface for the Nginx web server. vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-288 Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel weakness
References
- https://github.com/0xJacky/nginx-ui/security/advisories/GHSA-vc32-4gwf-77xp web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-84360 advisory
- https://github.com/0xJacky/nginx-ui/commit/23d1934099b05b2a01589b48129dc3d3159d91c2 web
- https://github.com/0xJacky/nginx-ui package
- https://github.com/0xJacky/nginx-ui/releases/tag/v2.4.1 web