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CVE-2026-47156 – SOAP API Authentication Bypass to Administrator – MantisBT ≤ 2.28.3

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Summary

CVE-2026-47156 is a critical authentication bypass in MantisBT’s SOAP API, affecting the mci_check_login() function. Any attacker who possesses a valid cookie_string value — including one obtained by self-registering their own low-privileged account, which is enabled by default — can supply an arbitrary target username and authenticate as that user, including the administrator, without knowing that user’s password. Given MantisBT’s default configuration allows self-registration, this vulnerability is remotely exploitable from a position of zero prior access.

Technical details

  • Root cause: the SOAP API’s mci_check_login() accepts a client-supplied username parameter alongside a cookie_string, without validating that the cookie actually belongs to that username.
  • This differs from the REST API, which derives the authenticated username server-side from the session/token, and from the web UI, which validates the cookie against the logged-in user via auth_is_cookie_valid(). Only the SOAP API is affected.
  • Trigger conditions: the attacker needs any valid cookie_string (obtainable by registering a normal account when self-registration is enabled, the default setting) and the username of the target account (e.g., an administrator).
  • Attack vector: network, no user interaction, low complexity, no privileges required beyond a self-registered account.
  • Impact: full impersonation of any user including administrators, exposure of private issues, complete data exfiltration, and destructive modification/deletion of projects and issues via SOAP API calls.

Affected software

  • MantisBT versions 2.28.3 and all earlier releases
  • Fixed in MantisBT 2.28.4

Severity

  • CVSS v4.0 Base Score: 9.3 (Critical)
  • Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Upgrade all MantisBT instances to version 2.28.4 or later, which corrects the SOAP API’s authentication logic.
  • If immediate patching is not possible: disable the SOAP API entirely if it is not required, disable self-registration to reduce the pool of attackers who can obtain a valid cookie, and restrict network access to the SOAP endpoint to trusted hosts only.
  • Following remediation, review SOAP API access logs for anomalous administrator actions performed from unfamiliar sources, and rotate credentials for accounts with administrative privileges as a precaution.

How IONIX identifies potentially affected assets

IONIX matches the following signals against data already collected when it crawled the asset; identifying the technology sends no request beyond that crawl.

  • Raw response body: Powered by <a href="https://mantisbt.org...">MantisBT</a>
  • Asset URL path: /mantisbt/login_page.php

References

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