eLabFTW is an open source electronic lab notebook for research labs. In an eLabFTW system, one can configure who is allowed to create new user accounts. A vulnerability has been found starting in version 4.4.0 and prior to version 5.0.0 that allows regular users to create new, validated accounts in their team. If the system has anonymous access enabled (disabled by default) an unauthenticated user can create regular users in any team. This vulnerability has been fixed since version 5.0.0, released on February 17th 2024. Some workarounds are available. Disabling both options that allow *administrators* to create users will provide a mitigation. Additionally, disabling anonymous user access will stop anonymous access (including using existing access keys).
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.4, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts limited data confidentiality, limited integrity, for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from elabftw organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2024, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2024-08-15T19:15:18.213
2025-08-19T15:17:10.340
Analyzed
CVSSv3.1: 5.4 (MEDIUM)
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For elabftw's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.