Open WebUI's responses passthrough endpoint lacks access control authorization
Summary
The /responses endpoint in the OpenAI router accepts any authenticated user and forwards requests directly to upstream LLM providers without enforcing per-model access control. While the primary chat completion endpoint (generate_chat_completion) checks model ownership, group membership, and AccessGrants before allowing a request, the /responses proxy only validates that the user has a valid session via get_verified_user.
This allows any authenticated user — regardless of role or group assignment — to interact with any model configured on the instance by sending a POST request to /api/openai/responses with an arbitrary model ID.
Impact
As per OWASP TOP 10 LLM:
-
Model Denial of Service (OWASP LLM04): An unauthorized user can submit resource-intensive requests to expensive models (e.g., o1-pro, GPT-4o) that were explicitly restricted by the administrator. In shared deployments, this can exhaust API budgets or rate limits, causing total service disruption for all legitimate users.
-
Model Theft (OWASP LLM10): If the instance proxies access to fine-tuned or self-hosted models, unauthorized users can freely interact with them, enabling capability extraction or model distillation without authorization.
-
Access Policy Bypass: Administrators lose the ability to enforce cost-tier restrictions, team-based model assignments, or compliance boundaries through the existing access control system.
The endpoint is a raw passthrough proxy and does not resolve workspace model configurations (system prompts, knowledge bases, RAG pipelines). Therefore, workspace-specific confidential data is not directly exposed through this vector.
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | open-webui | < 0.9.0 | 0.9.0 |
References
- https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui/security/advisories/GHSA-hp5m-24vp-vq2q
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-44556
- https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui/pull/23481
- https://github.com/open-webui/open-webui
- https://pypi.org/project/open-webui
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-hp5m-24vp-vq2q
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-284, CWE-862- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
open-webui- Disclosed
- 08.05.2026
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 14:18
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-2734 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-hp5m-24vp-vq2q - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: open-webui
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 161
- First → latest
- 08.2024 09.2026
- Without a fix
- 11
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 1
- High 77
- Medium 75
- Low 8
Disclosures per year
- 2024: 3
- 2025: 21
- 2026: 137
-
Open WebUI's responses passthrough endpoint lacks access control authorization this entry
Know which vulnerabilities affect your application
With the DockRay integration and software inventory enabled, DockRay checks reported component versions against known vulnerabilities and notifies you about confirmed matches. Coverage depends on the supported technology and available advisory data.