Skip to content

AzuraCast has Missing Permissions Check on Media File Download, Allowing Cross-Station Data Exfiltration

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Apr 23, 2026 in AzuraCast/AzuraCast • Updated May 4, 2026

Package

composer azuracast/azuracast (Composer)

Affected versions

<= 0.23.5

Patched versions

0.23.6

Description

Summary

The GET /api/station/{station_id}/file/{id}/play endpoint, handled by PlayAction, is missing the Middleware\Permissions check that protects all sibling routes in the same /file/{id} route group. Any authenticated user can download media files from any station, regardless of whether they have permissions on that station. In multi-tenant deployments, this enables cross-station media exfiltration.

Details

In backend/config/routes/api_station.php, the /file/{id} route group (lines 407-429) defines four endpoints:

// Line 407-429
$group->group(
    '/file/{id}',
    function (RouteCollectorProxy $group) {
        // GET /file/{id} — has Permissions check ✓
        $group->get('', ...)->add(new Middleware\Permissions(StationPermissions::Media, true));

        // PUT /file/{id} — has Permissions check ✓
        $group->put('', ...)->add(new Middleware\Permissions(StationPermissions::Media, true));

        // DELETE /file/{id} — has Permissions check ✓
        $group->delete('', ...)->add(new Middleware\Permissions(StationPermissions::DeleteMedia, true));

        // GET /file/{id}/play — NO Permissions check ✗
        $group->get('/play', Controller\Api\Stations\Files\PlayAction::class)
            ->setName('api:stations:files:play');
    }
);

The middleware chain for the /play endpoint is: GetStation → RequireStation → RequireLogin → StationSupportsFeature(Media) → PlayAction. The RequireLogin middleware (backend/src/Middleware/RequireLogin.php) only verifies a valid session/API key exists — it does not check station-level permissions.

The controller at backend/src/Controller/Api/Stations/Files/PlayAction.php:84 calls $this->mediaRepo->requireForStation($id, $station), which verifies the media belongs to the station but performs no authorization check. The findForStation method (StationMediaRepository.php:46-66) accepts both auto-increment integer IDs and unique IDs, making enumeration trivial via sequential integers.

This is notably similar to the regression fixed in commit 7fbc7dd (2026-02-26), which restored a missing group-level Permissions middleware on the adjacent /files group. The /play route was missed in that fix.

PoC

# Step 1: Create two stations (Station A and Station B) in a multi-tenant AzuraCast instance.
# Upload media files to Station B.

# Step 2: Create a user with permissions ONLY on Station A. Generate an API key for this user.
API_KEY="user-with-only-station-a-access"

# Step 3: Enumerate and download media from Station B (station_id=2) using sequential IDs
# This should return 403 Forbidden, but instead returns the file content
curl -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" https://target/api/station/2/file/1/play -o stolen1.mp3
# HTTP 200 OK — file downloaded successfully

curl -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" https://target/api/station/2/file/2/play -o stolen2.mp3
# HTTP 200 OK — file downloaded successfully

# Step 4: Verify the same user is correctly blocked on other endpoints in the same group
curl -H "X-API-Key: $API_KEY" https://target/api/station/2/file/1
# HTTP 403 Forbidden — permission check works here

Impact

  • Any authenticated user can download the full media library of any station in the instance, regardless of their assigned permissions.
  • In multi-tenant deployments (e.g., hosting providers running multiple radio stations), a user of Station A can exfiltrate all copyrighted audio content from Station B.
  • Media IDs use auto-increment integers (HasAutoIncrementId trait on StationMedia), enabling trivial enumeration of all media files.
  • The confidentiality impact is High: full media file contents (MP3, FLAC, etc.) are exposed.

Recommended Fix

Add the Permissions middleware to the /play route, matching the pattern used by the adjacent routes:

// backend/config/routes/api_station.php, line 426-427
// Before:
$group->get('/play', Controller\Api\Stations\Files\PlayAction::class)
    ->setName('api:stations:files:play');

// After:
$group->get('/play', Controller\Api\Stations\Files\PlayAction::class)
    ->setName('api:stations:files:play')
    ->add(new Middleware\Permissions(StationPermissions::Media, true));

References

@BusterNeece BusterNeece published to AzuraCast/AzuraCast Apr 23, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 4, 2026
Reviewed May 4, 2026
Last updated May 4, 2026

Severity

Moderate

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Missing Authorization

The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-qff7-q5fm-8p76

Source code

Credits

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.