UserController::upsertUser() writes user data in SYSTEM_SCOPE and does not filter the admin field. A non-admin API user with user:create or user:update ACL permission can set admin: true on new or existing users, escalating to full admin access.
In src/Core/Framework/Api/Controller/UserController.php, line 210-234:
public function upsertUser(?string $userId, Request $request, Context $context, ResponseFactoryInterface $factory): Response
{
$data = $request->request->all(); // raw request data, no field filtering
// ...
$events = $context->scope(Context::SYSTEM_SCOPE, fn (Context $context) =>
$this->userRepository->upsert([$data], $context)
);
}
SYSTEM_SCOPE bypasses AclWriteValidator entirely (line 52 of AclWriteValidator::preValidate() returns early for SYSTEM_SCOPE). The admin boolean field is accepted without restriction.
Compare with IntegrationController::upsertIntegration() in the same codebase, which correctly checks:
if ((!$source instanceof AdminApiSource)
|| (!$source->isAdmin()
&& isset($data['admin']))
) {
throw new PermissionDeniedException();
}
UserController is missing this exact check.
Any API user with the low-privilege user:create permission can create accounts with full admin access, or with user:update can promote any existing user to admin. This is a direct privilege escalation.
Add the same isAdmin() check from IntegrationController:
$source = $context->getSource();
if ((!$source instanceof AdminApiSource) || (!$source->isAdmin() && isset($data['admin']))) {
throw new PermissionDeniedException();
}
Best regards, Keyvan Hardani
{
"github_reviewed": true,
"github_reviewed_at": "2026-06-04T19:28:29Z",
"severity": "MODERATE",
"nvd_published_at": null,
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-269"
]
}