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Pterodactyl Panel: Client email change endpoint allows enumeration of accounts in system

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 23, 2026 in pterodactyl/panel • Updated Jun 26, 2026

Package

composer pterodactyl/panel (Composer)

Affected versions

< 1.12.3

Patched versions

1.12.3

Description

Summary

An unprotected user enumeration vulnerability exists in the account email update endpoint, allowing authenticated users to verify whether email addresses are registered on the panel through automated requests without rate limiting or CAPTCHA protection.

Details

The account settings page allows authenticated users to update their email address through a POST request. Unlike the login and password reset forms which implement reCAPTCHA and rate limiting protections, this endpoint lacks these safeguards entirely.
An attacker can capture the email update request (for example, using Burp Suite's proxy) and modify the email field to test arbitrary addresses. The panel's response will confirm whether each tested email is already registered in the system. Because there are no rate limits implemented, attackers can send hundreds or thousands of requests to enumerate the user base.

This is concerning because:

  • The login and password reset pages correctly implement protections against enumeration
  • The account page has no reCAPTCHA option available
  • No rate limiting exists in the panel for this endpoint
  • Authentication is required, but any valid account (including free tier/trial accounts) can exploit this

PoC

  • Log into the Pterodactyl panel with any valid account
  • Navigate to Account Settings
  • Open Burp Suite (or similar proxy tool) and configure your browser to proxy through it
  • Attempt to change your email address and capture the POST request
  • Send the captured request to Repeater
  • Modify the email field to test different addresses (e.g., admin@example.com, test@example.com)
  • Send multiple requests in rapid succession
  • Observe the response messages which confirm whether each email exists or not
  • Repeat indefinitely without encountering rate limits or CAPTCHA challenges

Impact

This is a user enumeration vulnerability (CWE-204: Observable Response Discrepancy).

Who is impacted:

  • All Pterodactyl panel installations are affected
  • Any registered user's email address can be discovered
  • Particularly impacts administrators and high-value accounts

Potential consequences:

  • Attackers can build a complete database of registered users
  • Enumerated emails can be used for targeted phishing campaigns
  • Combined with other attacks (credential stuffing, social engineering)
  • Privacy violation for all users on the platform
  • Competitive intelligence gathering (identifying which companies/individuals use specific panels)

References

@DaneEveritt DaneEveritt published to pterodactyl/panel May 23, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jun 26, 2026
Reviewed Jun 26, 2026
Last updated Jun 26, 2026

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required None
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality Low
Integrity None
Availability None
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Observable Response Discrepancy

The product provides different responses to incoming requests in a way that reveals internal state information to an unauthorized actor outside of the intended control sphere. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-j7f5-gfqm-pcx3

Source code

Credits

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