CVE-2026-54445: Vantage6 Set Admin User And Password Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-fgmc-2hqj-86v4",
  "modified" : "2026-07-09T21:06:52Z",
  "published" : "2026-06-05T16:45:22Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-54445" ],
  "summary" : "Vantage6: Set admin user and password from environment or configuration",
  "details" : "### Impact\nVantage6 currently provides an initial user with username `root` and password `root`. This is not ideal for the following reasons:\n- Attackers know that almost all vantage6 servers have a user with username `root` that probably has admin rights\n- The initial password is very weak and it is possible that administrators forget to reset it.\n\n### Patches\nNo\n\n### Workarounds\nIt is possible to delete the `root` user after it has been used to create other users\n\n### References\nWe could consider doing this like [mongodb](https://hub.docker.com/_/mongo)\n\n### Additional info\n\nLuis uses the following patch to mitigate it:\n```diff\ndiff --git a/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py b/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py\nindex ea362c1e..c6dcbbd9 100644\n--- a/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py\n+++ b/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py\n@@ -618,18 +618,30 @@ class ServerApp:\n             # TODO use constant instead of 'Root' literal\n             root = db.Role.get_by_name(\"Root\")\n \n-            log.warn(\n-                f\"Creating root user: \"\n-                f\"username={SUPER_USER_INFO['username']}, \"\n-                f\"password={SUPER_USER_INFO['password']}\"\n-            )\n+            # Temporary patch\n+            # read initial root password from file (docker secret) if provided\n+            # TODO: This is a workaround so we don't have an insecure vserver\n+            #       at the start. Ideally, we would provide an already hashed\n+            #       password. But as hashing is implemented via @validates on\n+            #       the field 'password', there isn't a nice way around this.\n+            if os.environ.get(\"V6_INITIAL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE\"):\n+                with open(\n+                    os.environ.get(\"V6_INITIAL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE\")\n+                ) as password_file:\n+                    initial_root_password = password_file.read().strip()\n+                log.info(\n+                    f\"Creating root user with password provided via V6_INITIAL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE\"\n+                )\n+            else:\n+                initial_root_password = SUPER_USER_INFO[\"password\"]\n+                log.warn(f\"Creating root user with default credentials!\")\n \n             user = db.User(\n                 username=SUPER_USER_INFO[\"username\"],\n                 roles=[root],\n                 organization=org,\n                 email=\"root@domain.ext\",\n-                password=SUPER_USER_INFO[\"password\"],\n+                password=initial_root_password,\n                 failed_login_attempts=0,\n                 last_login_attempt=None,\n             )\n```",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "vantage6"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "5.0.0"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 4.2.3"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/vantage6/vantage6/security/advisories/GHSA-fgmc-2hqj-86v4"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54445"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/vantage6/vantage6/issues/1932"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/vantage6/vantage6"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/vantage6/vantage6/blob/main/docs/release_notes.rst#500"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-1393", "CWE-204" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-06-05T16:45:22Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-06-17T23:17:05Z"
  }
}