I discovered and responsibly disclosed a Broken Access Control vulnerability in a government portal serving 300K+ students
A Broken Access Control vulnerability was discovered and responsibly disclosed in a government student welfare portal used by over 300,000 students in India. The flaw allowed unauthorized authenticated users to access privileged functionality and sensitive beneficiary information, including addresses and government benefit details. The vulnerability stemmed from authorization being enforced only on the frontend, without proper backend validation. The issue was reported to CERT-In and relevant authorities, and has since been confirmed fixed.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The vulnerability involved broken access control in a government portal serving 300K+ students, where authorization was enforced solely on the client side. This allowed authenticated users without proper privileges to access sensitive functionality and data intended for privileged users. The researcher responsibly disclosed the issue, provided proof of concept, and received confirmation that the vulnerability has been remediated.
Potential Impact
Unauthorized authenticated users could access sensitive personal and government benefit information of other users, potentially leading to privacy violations and misuse of beneficiary data. The exposure of address and benefit disbursement details could have significant privacy and security implications for affected individuals.
Mitigation Recommendations
The vulnerability has been fixed as confirmed by the reporting researcher and authorities. No further action is required from end users. Developers should ensure that authorization checks are enforced on the backend rather than relying solely on frontend controls.
I discovered and responsibly disclosed a Broken Access Control vulnerability in a government portal serving 300K+ students
Description
A Broken Access Control vulnerability was discovered and responsibly disclosed in a government student welfare portal used by over 300,000 students in India. The flaw allowed unauthorized authenticated users to access privileged functionality and sensitive beneficiary information, including addresses and government benefit details. The vulnerability stemmed from authorization being enforced only on the frontend, without proper backend validation. The issue was reported to CERT-In and relevant authorities, and has since been confirmed fixed.
Reddit Discussion
A few weeks ago, I noticed something unusual while using a government student welfare portal in India.
Certain functionality appeared to be controlled by information stored on the client side, which made me wonder:
"Is the backend actually enforcing authorization, or is the frontend simply hiding functionality?"
After some limited testing using my own account, I discovered a Broken Access Control vulnerability that allowed unauthorized authenticated users to access functionality intended for privileged users.
The issue potentially exposed sensitive beneficiary information, including address details and information related to government benefit disbursements.
I documented my findings, reported them to CERT-In and the concerned authorities, provided a PoC when requested, and recently received confirmation that the issue has been fixed.
I've written a detailed technical breakdown covering:
• How the vulnerability was discovered
• The root cause
• Why frontend-only authorization is dangerous
• The responsible disclosure process
• Lessons for developers
Full write-up: https://medium.com/@theprinceraj/discovering-a-security-flaw-in-a-government-portal-used-by-3-lakh-students-ad3bf67a0513
Links cited in this discussion
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability involved broken access control in a government portal serving 300K+ students, where authorization was enforced solely on the client side. This allowed authenticated users without proper privileges to access sensitive functionality and data intended for privileged users. The researcher responsibly disclosed the issue, provided proof of concept, and received confirmation that the vulnerability has been remediated.
Potential Impact
Unauthorized authenticated users could access sensitive personal and government benefit information of other users, potentially leading to privacy violations and misuse of beneficiary data. The exposure of address and benefit disbursement details could have significant privacy and security implications for affected individuals.
Mitigation Recommendations
The vulnerability has been fixed as confirmed by the reporting researcher and authorities. No further action is required from end users. Developers should ensure that authorization checks are enforced on the backend rather than relying solely on frontend controls.
Technical Details
- Source Type
- Subreddit
- cybersecurity
- Reddit Score
- 0
- Discussion Level
- minimal
- Content Source
- reddit_link_post
- Post Type
- link
- Domain
- null
- Newsworthiness Assessment
- {"score":30,"reasons":["external_link","newsworthy_keywords:vulnerability","established_author","very_recent"],"isNewsworthy":true,"foundNewsworthy":["vulnerability"],"foundNonNewsworthy":[]}
- Has External Source
- true
- Trusted Domain
- false
Threat ID: 6a38091ceed863c81e04bedf
Added to database: 06/21/2026, 15:54:04 UTC
Last enriched: 06/21/2026, 15:54:07 UTC
Last updated: 06/22/2026, 02:39:05 UTC
Views: 7
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