Mattermost versions 10.5.x <= 10.5.5, 9.11.x <= 9.11.15, 10.8.x <= 10.8.0, 10.7.x <= 10.7.2, 10.6.x <= 10.6.5 fail to properly enforce channel member management permissions when adding participants to playbook runs. This allows authenticated users with member-level permissions to bypass system admin restrictions and add or remove users to/from private channels via the playbook run participants feature, even when the Manage Members permission has been explicitly removed. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive channel content and allow guest users to gain channel management privileges.
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. This allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions.
Assuming a user with a given identity, authorization is the process of determining whether that user can access a given resource, based on the user’s privileges and any permissions or other access-control specifications that apply to the resource. When access control checks are incorrectly applied, users are able to access data or perform actions that they should not be allowed to perform. This can lead to a wide range of problems, including information exposures, denial of service, and arbitrary code execution.