Description
In authd before 0.7.1, the user identity matching in UpdateUser (internal/users/manager.go) resolves an incoming login by the broker-scoped provider ID, but falls back to matching the username when the provider ID does not belong to any known user, and does not reject a conflicting non-empty provider ID. If an identity provider reassigns an email address, which authd uses as the username, to a new account, the new account inherits the previous user's local UID and home directory on its next login. This allows the new user to access and modify files belonging to the previous user, including credentials such as SSH keys and cloud API tokens, and silently rebinds the local account record to the new identity. As a mitigation, administrators should lock or delete the previous user's local authd account when the corresponding IdP account is removed.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canonical | authd | 0.1 – < 0.7.1, 0.1 – < 0.7.1~ubuntu24.04.1, 0.1 – < 0.7.1~ubuntu26.04 | 0.7.1 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | authd | 0.7.1 | USN-8957-1 |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | authd | No fix yet | — |
Advisories 1
- USN-8957-1 authd vulnerability Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Oct 28, 2026
References
- https://github.com/canonical/authd/pull/2067 patch
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/authd/+bug/2168531 issue-tracking
- https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-102631 vendor-advisory