fix(security): reject actuator basic-auth when internal password is unset (GHSA-xfc5-796c-7hr9)

[wyattwalter]

What

The /actuator/** management endpoints are protected by HTTP Basic auth that compares the supplied password against APPSMITH_INTERNAL_PASSWORD. That variable defaults to an empty string when unset (application-ce.properties: appsmith.internal.password=${APPSMITH_INTERNAL_PASSWORD:}), so the check "".equals("") succeeds for any request sending empty Basic Auth credentials — granting the INTERNAL authority and bypassing authentication on the actuator endpoints.

This guards the comparison so an unset/empty configured password never authenticates any caller. All /actuator/** requests then return 401 until an operator explicitly sets APPSMITH_INTERNAL_PASSWORD.

Why it matters

• On a default deployment the exposed actuator surface is prometheus and metrics (per application-ee.properties), plus health on CE — so the practical pre-fix impact is unauthenticated read access to operational metrics, not secrets.
• Impact escalates if an operator widens management.endpoints.web.exposure.include (e.g. to include env/heapdump).
• Ref: GHSA-xfc5-796c-7hr9 (and duplicate GHSA-8pr2-629w-7q87).

Change

Single-file change in SecurityConfig.internalWebFilterChain. No new imports (uses String.isEmpty()), so the hunk applies cleanly to EE via the hourly sync.

Testing

• Before: curl -u 'anyuser:' https://<host>/actuator/prometheus → 200
• After: same request → 401; 200 only when APPSMITH_INTERNAL_PASSWORD is set and matched.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Improved access handling for internal actuator endpoints when basic authentication credentials are empty or missing.
  • Prevented empty or unset internal passwords from being treated as a valid match, so requests now correctly follow the unauthenticated path when no valid credentials are configured.

Warning

Tests have not run on the HEAD 2b58fc3 yet

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Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:34:56 UTC

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

The /actuator/** Basic Auth check now requires INTERNAL_PASSWORD to be set and non-empty before matching credentials, so empty or unset passwords no longer grant the internal authority path.

Changes

Security config fix

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Actuator credential validation guard app/server/appsmith-server/src/main/java/com/appsmith/server/configurations/SecurityConfig.java	Adds a non-null and non-empty guard on INTERNAL_PASSWORD before the credentials comparison, otherwise returning the unauthenticated token path.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Poem

A gate once blinked at empty keys,
Now only real secrets pass with ease.
The actuator stands more tight,
With blank passwords out of sight.
🔒

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Description check	⚠️ Warning	The description is detailed, but it omits required template sections like Fixes, Automation, and Communication.	Add the issue reference, /ok-to-test tag, Cypress results section if applicable, and the Communication checkbox section.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly matches the security fix for rejecting actuator basic-auth when the internal password is unset.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch ww-ghsa-actuator-internal-password

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[salevine]

2. No regression test for a published GHSA (flagged by all four reviewers). The repo already has the exact pattern to copy: AuthGuardTest.java in appsmith-server/src/test/.../configurations/, itself created for a prior security fix. Recommended: an ActuatorAuthTest with two contexts — password unset (empty Basic creds → 401) and password set (wrong → 401, correct → 200, no header → 401). Notably, the "password set + correct creds still works" leg has no validation anywhere, including the author's manual curl.
3. Release note needed. Deployments that scrape /actuator/prometheus relying on the empty-password hole will start getting 401s. That's the intended fail-closed outcome, but operators need to be told to set APPSMITH_INTERNAL_PASSWORD rather than work around it.
   Tracked (follow-up hardening, not this PR): (edited)