---
id: GHSA-rxhg-vcww-2mpw
title: 'Fleet: ORDER BY column injection on activity list endpoints'
summary: 'Fleet: ORDER BY column injection on activity list endpoints'
severity: low
cvss: 3.1
cwe:
  - CWE-89
vendor: fleetdm
product: github.com/fleetdm/fleet/v4
ecosystem: go
affected:
  - github.com/fleetdm/fleet/v4 < 4.89.0
patched:
  - github.com/fleetdm/fleet/v4 4.89.0
published: '2026-08-20'
updated: '2026-08-20'
source: GHSA
sourceUrl: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rxhg-vcww-2mpw'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-rxhg-vcww-2mpw'
  - url: 'https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/releases/tag/fleet-v4.89.0'
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rxhg-vcww-2mpw'
tags:
  - ghsa
  - go
ingestedAt: '2026-08-20T18:59:53.565Z'
---

## Overview

### Summary

An authenticated user with read access to Activity could influence the `ORDER BY` clause of the activity list endpoints by supplying an arbitrary sort column:

- `GET /api/v1/fleet/activities` (`ListActivities`)
- `GET /api/v1/fleet/hosts/{id}/activities` (`ListHostPastActivities`)

This originated from the deprecated cursor-pagination helper (`appendListOptionsWithCursorToSQL`), which interpolated the caller-supplied order key into SQL without an allowlist. The original report's `node_key` extraction scenario (`/api/v1/fleet/labels/{id}/hosts`) was remediated separately in #44385; these two activity endpoints were the residual call sites, neither of which joins the `hosts` table, so `node_key` was never reachable through them.

### Impact

Read-only. Because the order key was interpolated, an authenticated user with Activity read could sort by columns not otherwise returned in these responses. The exposure was bounded to columns on `activity_past` (e.g. `details` on `/api/v1/fleet/activities`, which is not in that endpoint's SELECT; host-only activities are already excluded by `WHERE host_only = false`). There is no privilege escalation, write access, or reachability of `node_key` or other host-join columns through these endpoints.

### Remediation

The deprecated helper was removed from the codebase. Both endpoints now pass the caller-supplied sort column through `SanitizeColumn`, which strips all characters except `[\w-.]` and backtick-quotes each identifier segment. This closes the injection vector: separators, whitespace, parentheses, and quotes cannot survive sanitization, so an expression-based `ORDER BY` oracle is not constructable.

### Affected versions

`< fleet-v4.89.0`. Fixed in `fleet-v4.89.0`.

### Credit

Thanks to @axel-corsiez for the report.

## Affected packages

- `github.com/fleetdm/fleet/v4 < 4.89.0`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `github.com/fleetdm/fleet/v4 4.89.0`