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GHSA-384w-5v3f-q499

MediumCVSS 6.3 / 10
Published Dec 1, 2020·Last modified Mar 13, 2026
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

Impact

What goes wrong?

The deprecated (in jupyterhub 1.2) configuration Authenticator.whitelist, which should be transparently mapped to Authenticator.allowed_users with a warning, is instead ignored by OAuthenticator classes, resulting in the same behavior as if this configuration has not been set. If this is the only mechanism of authorization restriction (i.e. no group or team restrictions in configuration) then all authenticated users will be allowed. Provider-based restrictions, including deprecated values such as GitHubOAuthenticator.org_whitelist are not affected.

Who is impacted?

All users of OAuthenticator 0.12.0 and 0.12.1 with JupyterHub 1.2 (JupyterHub Helm chart 0.10.0-0.10.5) who use the admin.whitelist.users configuration in the jupyterhub helm chart or the c.Authenticator.whitelist configuration directly. Users of other deprecated configuration, e.g. c.GitHubOAuthenticator.team_whitelist are not affected.

If you see a log line like this and expect a specific list of allowed usernames:

[I 2020-11-27 16:51:54.528 JupyterHub app:1717] Not using allowed_users. Any authenticated user will be allowed.

you are likely affected.

Patches

  • Replacing deprecated c.Authenticator.whitelist = ... with c.Authenticator.allowed_users = ... avoids the issue.
  • Update oauthenticator to 0.12.2
  • Update jupyterhub helm chart to 0.10.6

If any users have been authorized during this time who should not have been, they must be deleted via the API or admin interface, per the documentation.

Workarounds

Replacing c.Authenticator.whitelist = ... with c.Authenticator.allowed_users = ... avoids the issue.

In the jupyterhub helm chart prior to 0.10.6, this can be done via hub.extraConfig:

auth:
  allowedUsers:
  - user1
  - user2

hub:
  extraConfig:
    allowedUsers: |
        # set new field not exposed in helm chart < 0.10.6
        set_config_if_not_none(c.Authenticator, "allowed_users", "auth.allowedUsers")

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Risk Scores
Base Score
6.3

The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is difficult for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability and may require special conditions. An attacker needs basic access or low-level privileges. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The vulnerability can affect other systems as well, not just the initial system. There is a high impact on the confidentiality of the information.

Threat Intelligence
5.8

Exploitation attempts have been detected. Elevated vigilance and prompt remediation are advised.

EPSS
1.12%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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