CVE-2026-123002: Gitea · Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts
Affects GiteaSource CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited : upgrade to 28.4.0 soon.
Data as of 15 Nov 2026, 21:35 UTC
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.
What to do
Upgrade Gitea to 28.4.0.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Giteagitea.dev | Affected
| Fixed in
|
AI-suggested
Upgrade Gitea to version 28.4.0 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed by enforcing a 15-minute lockout after five failed TOTP attempts. No other mitigation is required as the fix addresses the issue directly.
Description
Gitea versions prior to 28.4.0 allowed unlimited attempts to guess six-digit TOTP passcodes during sign-in, password reset, and Basic authentication with the X-Gitea-OTP header. This flaw enabled attackers who know an account's password to bypass two-factor authentication by brute forcing the TOTP code. The issue is fixed in version 28.4.0, which now blocks further attempts for 15 minutes after five failed passcode tries.
References
- github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-5mx6-8rwm-52wf (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/39993 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/40374 (opens in a new tab)
- blog.gitea.com/release-of-28.4.0/ (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases/tag/v28.4.0 (opens in a new tab)