Launch Week Day 1: Announcing Security Design Review
MEDIUM 4.3 PyPI

SQLAdmin: Authorization Bypass on `ajax_lookup`

GHSA-54mc-gghv-4cfj · CVE-2026-46645

Published · Modified

Description

Impact

The ajax_lookup endpoint in application.py bypasses the is_accessible() access control check that all other endpoints enforce.

If a developer restricts model access by overriding is_accessible(), an authenticated user can still query that model's data through the ajax_lookup endpoint — silently bypassing the restriction.

Affected endpoint:

GET /{identity}/ajax/lookup?name=<field>&term=<query>

All other endpoints enforce both checks:

Endpoint @login_required is_accessible()
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ajax_lookup (before fix)
ajax_lookup (after fix)

Note: before this fix, ajax_lookup also lacked the @login_required decorator — unauthenticated users could query it directly. That was addressed in #1035. This report covers the remaining gap: authenticated but unauthorized users.

Patches

Two changes were made to ajax_lookup:

  1. Replaced the hand-rolled authentication check added in #1035 with the standard @login_required decorator used by all other endpoints.
  2. Added the missing is_accessible(request) check, raising HTTP 403 when it returns False.

Workarounds

None. Developers relying on is_accessible() to restrict model visibility are exposed regardless of what other access controls are in place.

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