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Arcane Backend: Unauthenticated reflected XSS via SVG color parameter enables admin account takeover

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 11, 2026 in getarcaneapp/arcane • Updated May 18, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/getarcaneapp/arcane/backend (Go)

Affected versions

<= 1.18.1

Patched versions

1.19.0

Description

Summary

The unauthenticated GET /api/app-images/logo endpoint reflects a user-supplied color query parameter into the body of an SVG document via strings.ReplaceAll with no escaping. The substitution lands inside a <style> element of the embedded logo.svg, allowing an attacker to close the style block and inject executable <script> content. Because the response is served as image/svg+xml and Arcane sets no Content-Security-Policy or X-Content-Type-Options headers, navigating a logged-in admin victim to a crafted URL executes attacker-controlled JavaScript in Arcane's origin and rides the victim's HttpOnly JWT cookie to fully compromise the admin account.

Details

The route is registered in backend/internal/huma/handlers/appimages.go:53-61 with an explicitly empty security requirement, marking it as public:

huma.Register(api, huma.Operation{
    OperationID: "get-logo",
    Method:      http.MethodGet,
    Path:        "/app-images/logo",
    ...
    Security:    []map[string][]string{}, // explicit: no auth
}, h.GetLogo)

backend/internal/huma/middleware/auth.go:209-213 honors the empty Security value by returning reqs.isRequired == false and short-circuiting with next(ctx), so no JWT/API-key check runs.

GetLogoInput.Color (appimages.go:23) is declared with no validation tags:

type GetLogoInput struct {
    Full  bool   `query:"full" default:"false" ...`
    Color string `query:"color" doc:"Optional accent color override ..."`
}

The handler passes the value straight through getImageWithColorApplicationImagesService.GetImageWithColorapplyAccentColorToSVG (backend/internal/services/app_images_service.go:79-105):

svgStr = strings.ReplaceAll(svgStr, "fill:#6D28D9", fmt.Sprintf("fill:%s", accentColor))
svgStr = strings.ReplaceAll(svgStr, "fill:#6d28d9", fmt.Sprintf("fill:%s", accentColor))

The bundled backend/resources/images/logo.svg contains:

<style id="style1" type="text/css">.st0{fill:#6d28d9}</style>

so a color value like red}</style><script>fetch('/api/users',...)</script><style>x{ produces a valid SVG that closes the <style> element and embeds a <script> element. The response Content-Type is image/svg+xml (from pkg/utils/image/image_util.go), and a grep of the backend confirms no Content-Security-Policy, X-Content-Type-Options, or framing headers are emitted on any route.

Browsers execute scripts in SVG documents loaded as top-level navigations or via <iframe src=…> / window.open(…). The execution context is origin(arcane-host), so the victim's __Host-token / token HttpOnly JWT cookie (recognized by extractTokenFromCookieHeaderInternal at auth.go:274-286) is automatically attached to subsequent same-origin fetch() calls. From there the attacker can invoke any privileged API the victim possesses — most damagingly POST /api/users to create a new admin account, after which the attacker has standalone admin access to manage Docker containers, registries, GitOps secrets, and SSH/registry credentials stored by Arcane.

Impact

  • Same-origin script execution from an unauthenticated, reachable URL — only user interaction (clicking/visiting the crafted link) is required.
  • Full session-riding against any authenticated user, including admins. Because Arcane manages Docker daemons, container exec, image registries, and GitOps repositories, an attacker who lands script execution as an admin victim can:
    • Create persistent attacker-controlled admin accounts via POST /api/users.
    • Read/modify secrets stored in environments, registries, and Git repositories the admin can access.
    • Start or exec into containers on connected Docker hosts.
  • HttpOnly cookies do not mitigate the issue — cookies are auto-attached to same-origin fetch(). Absence of CSP and X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff removes available defenses-in-depth.

Defense-in-depth — add to all responses (and especially to /api/app-images/*):

  • X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
  • Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'none'; style-src 'unsafe-inline'; img-src 'self' data: on the SVG image responses (or the most permissive policy compatible with the frontend on app routes).
  • Consider serving these images with Content-Disposition: inline and from a separate cookie-less origin to remove the same-origin session-riding primitive entirely.

Also enforce the same allowlist on the settings write path (SettingsServiceAccentColor) so a stored XSS variant cannot be introduced via the settings API.

References

@kmendell kmendell published to getarcaneapp/arcane May 11, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 18, 2026
Reviewed May 18, 2026
Last updated May 18, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-45627

GHSA ID

GHSA-q2pj-8v84-9mh5

Source code

Credits

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