VulnerabilityPublished 15 Nov 2026

CVE-2026-118535: Gitea · Incorrect Authorization

Affects GiteaSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited : upgrade to 28.4.0 soon.

Data as of 15 Nov 2026, 21:35 UTC

Severity

High

Rated High by Threat Radar's AI analysis · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

Patch: Available – fixed in 28.4.0

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 15 Nov 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 15 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade Gitea to 28.4.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Giteagitea.dev	Affected >=1.27.0 <28.4.0	Fixed in 28.4.0

AI-suggested

Upgrade Gitea to version 28.4.0 or later, where the issue is fixed by removing owner-level workflow registrations upon repository transfer and ignoring invalid registrations. No other mitigation is required as the fix addresses the root cause.

Description

CVE-2026-118535 is an authorization vulnerability in Gitea where a repository registered as a source of scoped workflows retained that registration after being transferred to a new owner. This allowed the new owner to modify workflows that continued to run in the previous owner's repositories with access to sensitive Actions secrets and job tokens. The issue has been fixed in version 28.4.0 by removing owner-level registrations upon transfer and ignoring registrations whose source repository no longer belongs to the registering owner.

Impact

The vulnerability allows a new owner of a transferred repository to modify workflows that run in the previous owner's repositories, potentially accessing sensitive Actions secrets and job tokens. This could lead to unauthorized access to confidential credentials and tokens within the previous owner's environment.

Summary

This vulnerability in Gitea involves incorrect authorization related to scoped workflow registrations. When a repository registered as a source of scoped workflows was transferred to a different owner, the registration persisted improperly. Consequently, the new owner could alter workflows that executed in the previous owner's repositories, gaining unauthorized access to Actions secrets and job tokens. The fix implemented in version 28.4.0 ensures that transferring a repository removes such owner-level registrations and disregards registrations if the source repository is no longer owned by the registering user.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #17OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 15 Nov 2026, 21:35 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-863

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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