A Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in Open WebUI allows any authenticated user to force the server to make HTTP requests to arbitrary URLs. This can be exploited to access cloud metadata endpoints (AWS/GCP/Azure), scan internal networks, access internal services behind firewalls, and exfiltrate sensitive information. No special permissions beyond basic authentication are required.
The vulnerability exists in the /api/v1/retrieval/process/web endpoint located in backend/open_webui/routers/retrieval.py at lines 1758-1767.
Vulnerable code: @router.post("/process/web") def process_web( request: Request, form_data: ProcessUrlForm, user=Depends(get_verified_user) ): try: collection_name = form_data.collection_name if not collection_name: collection_name = calculate_sha256_string(form_data.url)[:63]
content, docs = get_content_from_url(request, form_data.url) # ← SSRF vulnerability
The form_data.url parameter is passed directly to get_content_from_url() without any validation. This function chain ultimately calls web loaders that fetch arbitrary URLs:
Call chain:
No validation is performed for:
Prerequisites: Valid user account (any role)
Step 1 - Authenticate:
TOKEN=$(curl -s "http://localhost:3000/api/v1/auths/signin"
-H 'Content-Type: application/json'
-d '{"email":"user@example.com","password":"password"}'
|...
0.1.1240.1.1250.2.00.2.10.2.20.2.30.2.40.2.50.3.00.3.1+118 more0.6.37Exploitability
AV:NAC:LPR:LUI:NScope
S:CImpact
C:HI:LA:NCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N