Description

LaraDashboard 1.4.2 before 1.4.8 applies advanced email validation to unauthenticated forgot-password and reset-password requests, triggering DNS lookups and paid AbstractAPI verification calls. Unauthenticated attackers can submit arbitrary addresses to exhaust the verification quota, making validation fail open for all public forms, and probe domain resolution.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "5.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-10-04T00:16:36.397Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-10-04T00:16:36.397Z",
  "executiveSummary": "LaraDashboard versions 1.4.2 through 1.4.7 are susceptible to a resource exhaustion vulnerability within the forgot-password and reset-password authentication flows.\nThe vulnerability stems from improper validation logic that triggers external service requests—specifically DNS lookups and paid AbstractAPI verification calls—for unauthenticated user input.\nAn unauthenticated attacker can weaponize this by submitting a high volume of arbitrary email addresses, effectively exhausting the application's third-party API verification quota.\nOnce the quota is depleted, the system enters a 'fail-open' state, potentially bypassing intended validation security controls across public-facing forms.\nFurthermore, this vulnerability allows attackers to leverage the server infrastructure to perform domain resolution probing, potentially exposing internal or restricted network infrastructure information through DNS queries.\nThe risk is elevated due to the lack of authentication required to trigger these costly and state-changing requests, leading to both financial loss from API consumption and a degradation of security posture via the fail-open mechanism.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the implementation of advanced email validation routines within the LaraDashboard authentication workflow for password management. The application logic fails to distinguish between trusted internal requests and untrusted user-submitted input in the password reset process.\nWhen a request is submitted to the forgot-password or reset-password endpoints, the application logic mandates an immediate validation check of the provided email address. This check is not performed against a local database, but rather through external infrastructure: performing synchronous DNS resolution and invoking the AbstractAPI verification service.\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: An unauthenticated attacker initiates a series of automated POST requests to the affected password-management endpoints. In the payload, the attacker inserts arbitrary email addresses or domain names. The application processes these inputs by attempting to verify the existence and validity of the provided email via AbstractAPI, while also conducting DNS lookups to resolve the associated domain.\nBecause these actions are executed synchronously and without rate-limiting or authentication requirements, the attacker can programmatically flood the system with invalid or high-volume requests. The impact is twofold: first, the application's AbstractAPI credit balance is exhausted due to the per-call billing model, and second, the system's defensive logic, which relies on the API's 'valid' status to proceed, defaults to a 'fail-open' configuration when the API becomes unreachable or returns an error due to quota exhaustion.\nThis fail-open state degrades the security integrity of all public-facing forms that depend on this centralized validation service, effectively bypassing identity verification measures. Additionally, the DNS lookup functionality can be abused as a side-channel for internal network reconnaissance. An attacker can supply internal or non-public domain names; if the application server is configured to perform recursive DNS lookups, the server may disclose information about internal network reachability or sensitive infrastructure through the metadata returned during the resolution process. This vulnerability affects all LaraDashboard installations prior to version 1.4.8."
}