Medium

Vantage6: Set admin user and password from environment or configuration

  • Disclosed: 05.06.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 14:18

Impact

Vantage6 currently provides an initial user with username root and password root. This is not ideal for the following reasons:

  • Attackers know that almost all vantage6 servers have a user with username root that probably has admin rights
  • The initial password is very weak and it is possible that administrators forget to reset it.

Patches

No

Workarounds

It is possible to delete the root user after it has been used to create other users

References

We could consider doing this like mongodb

Additional info

Luis uses the following patch to mitigate it:

diff
diff --git a/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py b/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py
index ea362c1e..c6dcbbd9 100644
--- a/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py
+++ b/vantage6-server/vantage6/server/__init__.py
@@ -618,18 +618,30 @@ class ServerApp:
             # TODO use constant instead of 'Root' literal
             root = db.Role.get_by_name("Root")
 
-            log.warn(
-                f"Creating root user: "
-                f"username={SUPER_USER_INFO['username']}, "
-                f"password={SUPER_USER_INFO['password']}"
-            )
+            # Temporary patch
+            # read initial root password from file (docker secret) if provided
+            # TODO: This is a workaround so we don't have an insecure vserver
+            #       at the start. Ideally, we would provide an already hashed
+            #       password. But as hashing is implemented via @validates on
+            #       the field 'password', there isn't a nice way around this.
+            if os.environ.get("V6_INITIAL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE"):
+                with open(
+                    os.environ.get("V6_INITIAL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE")
+                ) as password_file:
+                    initial_root_password = password_file.read().strip()
+                log.info(
+                    f"Creating root user with password provided via V6_INITIAL_ROOT_PASSWORD_FILE"
+                )
+            else:
+                initial_root_password = SUPER_USER_INFO["password"]
+                log.warn(f"Creating root user with default credentials!")
 
             user = db.User(
                 username=SUPER_USER_INFO["username"],
                 roles=[root],
                 organization=org,
                 email="root@domain.ext",
-                password=SUPER_USER_INFO["password"],
+                password=initial_root_password,
                 failed_login_attempts=0,
                 last_login_attempt=None,
             )

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) vantage6 < 5.0.0 5.0.0

References

CVSS score -
CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-1393, CWE-204
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
vantage6
Disclosed
05.06.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 14:18

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-3400 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-fgmc-2hqj-86v4 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: vantage6

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (20) in the archive
Total entries
20
First → latest
02.2023 07.2026
Without a fix
1
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 5
  • Medium 9
  • Low 6

Disclosures per year

  1. 2023: 7
  2. 2024: 7
  3. 2025: 1
  4. 2026: 5
Severity:
  1. Vantage6: Set admin user and password from environment or configuration this entry
    Medium CVE-2026-54445 < 5.0.0 5.0.0
  2. High · 8.8 CVE-2024-21649 < 4.2.0 4.2.0
  3. High · 8.8 CVE-2023-23929 < 3.8.0 3.8.0
  4. High · 6.5 CVE-2023-22738 < 3.8.0 3.8.0

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