CVE-2023-39522: Username enumeration attack in goauthentik

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-08-29 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-203

Description

goauthentik is an open-source Identity Provider. In affected versions using a recovery flow with an identification stage an attacker is able to determine if a username exists. Only setups configured with a recovery flow are impacted by this. Anyone with a user account on a system with the recovery flow described above is susceptible to having their username/email revealed as existing. An attacker can easily enumerate and check users' existence using the recovery flow, as a clear message is shown when a user doesn't exist. Depending on configuration this can either be done by username, email, or both. This issue has been addressed in versions 2023.5.6 and 2023.6.2. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.

Affected products

goauthentik authentik: before 2023.5.6; from 2023.6.0 before 2023.6.2 — fixed in 2023.5.6, 2023.6.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: goauthentik authentik 2023.5.6, 2023.6.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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