Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessAuthenticate as low-privilege user
-
DeliveryFork target repository
-
ExploitCreate reverse PR (BASE=fork, HEAD=upstream) with maintainer-edit flag
-
ExecutionCommit malicious change locally
-
PersistPush directly to upstream over HTTP/SSH
-
ImpactBackdoored code lands on default branch
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization logic validation
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires (1) network access to the Gitea web and Git HTTP/SSH endpoints, (2) any authenticated low-privilege account on the instance (read access to the target repository is sufficient - no write, fork-approval, or admin rights are needed), and (3) the instance must have SupportProcReceive enabled (the default on modern Gitea, used to power agit workflows), since the relaxed access-mode check in routers/web/repo/githttp.go and routers/private/serv.go is what defers enforcement to the vulnerable pre-receive hook. The target repository must be one the attacker can read and fork; entirely private repos they cannot view are not exposed. No user interaction by a victim is required, and the attack works against the repository's default branch. |
| Impact | The CVSS 3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N (8.5) accurately reflects a network-reachable, low-complexity flaw that needs only any low-privilege account, no user interaction, with a scope change (compromise of repositories the attacker does not own) and high integrity impact. Real-world risk is high for any multi-tenant Gitea instance that permits user registration or hosts public repositories - a single throwaway account is sufficient to backdoor every readable repo on the instance, which makes this a supply-chain-grade threat for code hosting. Publicly available exploit code exists in the form of poc.py linked from the GHSA advisory, raising practical exploitability further. No EPSS score or CISA KEV listing was provided in the input, so widespread or targeted exploitation cannot be confirmed at this time; analysts should treat exposure of pre-1.26.2 instances as urgent regardless. CVSS C:L is conservative - confidentiality impact is effectively limited to what was already readable, which is consistent with the bypass being write-side only. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker registers (or uses any existing low-privilege account) on a target Gitea instance, forks a high-value public repository, then opens a PR with BASE set to their own fork and HEAD set to the upstream repository, ticking 'Allow edits from maintainers'. They clone their fork, craft a malicious commit (for example, backdooring a build script or CI workflow), and run git push against the upstream URL - the push is accepted and lands on the upstream default branch. A working poc.py is attached to the advisory and demonstrates the full chain end-to-end, dropping a PWNED.txt file on the victim repo's default branch. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Jun 17, 2026
Authorization bypass in Gitea versions up to and including 1.26.1 allows any authenticated user with mere read access to push arbitrary commits directly to any repository they can view, including all public repositories on the instance. The flaw stems from the 'Allow edits from maintainers' pull request flag being trusted without verifying the PR submitter actually owns write access on the HEAD side, enabling reverse-fork PRs to grant unauthorized push rights to upstream targets. Publicly available exploit code exists (a working poc.py is attached to the advisory), and the issue is fixed in Gitea 1.26.2.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade Gitea to 1.26.2 or later, which is the version that addresses GHSA-mm7c-rhg6-qr4r and adds the missing authorization checks. Operators who cannot immediately upgrade should consider disabling the proc-receive code path by setting SupportProcReceive (and related agit/AGit features) to false in app.ini, since the bypass depends on Gitea relaxing the required access mode to Read and deferring to the pre-receive hook; the trade-off is loss of agit-style 'push to create PR' workflows. As a further compensating control, restrict new account creation (DISABLE_REGISTRATION=true) and audit recent pushes to public repositories for unexpected commits or contributors, because any authenticated account could have abused this. The authoritative advisory is https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-mm7c-rhg6-qr4r.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in go, euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Gitea is a self-hosted Git service written in Go (CPE pkg:go/code.gitea.io_gitea). The vulnerability is a textbook CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization issue across two enforcement layers. The web PR-create endpoint sets AllowMaintainerEdit=true on PRs without checking whether the submitter has write access to the HEAD repository. When SupportProcReceive is enabled, routers/web/repo/githttp.go and routers/private/serv.go intentionally relax the required Git access mode to Read and defer enforcement to the pre-receive hook. That hook's CanMaintainerWriteToBranch helper (models/issues/pull_list.go) only verifies the pusher has write to the BASE repo of the matching PR, never validating that BASE is actually downstream of HEAD. By inverting BASE and HEAD, an attacker becomes 'maintainer' of their own fork, and the BASE-side write check trivially passes while the push is applied to the upstream HEAD.
Know when Gitea gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N
Network-reachable, any low-priv account suffices (PR:L), no user interaction; scope changes to repos outside attacker control (S:C); high integrity impact, no confidentiality or availability beyond what was already readable.
Primary rating from Vendor (https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea).
CVSS VectorVendor: https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea
DescriptionCVE.org
Summary
Any authenticated low-privilege user with read access to a repository can push arbitrary commits directly to that repository, bypassing all write-access checks.
Vulnerability
Gitea's "Allow edits from maintainers" PR option can be abused via reverse-fork PRs:
- The web UI PR-create endpoint binds
allow_maintainer_edit=truewithout verifying that the submitter has write access to the HEAD repository. - Gitea allows creating a PR where BASE = attacker's fork and HEAD = upstream target. The attacker is "maintainer" of the BASE (their own fork), so the flag is set against the upstream HEAD.
- On
git pushover HTTP/SSH, Gitea relaxes the required access mode toReadwhenSupportProcReceiveis enabled (routers/web/repo/githttp.go,routers/private/serv.go) and defers enforcement to the pre-receive hook. - The pre-receive hook calls
CanMaintainerWriteToBranch(models/issues/pull_list.go), which finds the malicious PR, seesAllowMaintainerEdit=true, and checks whether the pusher has write access to the BASE repo. Since BASE is the attacker's own fork, the check passes and the push is authorized against the upstream.
Exploitation
- Attacker forks the target repository.
- Attacker visits the web compare endpoint and creates a PR with
BASE = their_fork,HEAD = upstream, and "Allow edits from maintainers" checked. - Attacker clones their fork, makes a commit, and runs
git push <upstream_url> <branch>- the push is accepted.
Reproduction
python3 poc.py --repo http://gitea:3000/victim/repo --user attacker --password attacker_passExpected output:
[+] target: victim/my_repo default branch: main
[*] forking -> attacker/my_repo_pocfork (202)
[+] fork ready
[+] malicious PR created (BASE=attacker fork, HEAD=upstream)
remote: . Processing 1 references
remote: Processed 1 references in total
To http://192.168.101.20:3000/victim/my_repo.git
e5c07b3..9a0b884 main -> main
[+] latest commit on victim/my_repo@main: 'PoC: unauthorized commit via maintainer-edit bypass'
[+] CONFIRMED: unauthorized push to upstream succeeded.A PWNED.txt file will appear on the target repo's default branch, committed by the attacker who has no write access.
Impact
Full repository compromise. Any logged-in user can backdoor any repository they can read, including all public repositories on the instance.
Suggested Fix
Two independent checks are missing; both should be added for defense in depth:
- At PR creation: before setting
AllowMaintainerEdit = true, verify the submitter has write access to the HEAD repository. - In
CanMaintainerWriteToBranch: verify that the PR's HEAD repo matches the repository being pushed to, and that the PR was opened by a legitimate owner/writer of the HEAD repository. Do not trustAllowMaintainerEditsolely based on BASE write access.
Executive ViewAI
Gitea versions 1.26.1 and earlier contain an authorization bypass allowing any authenticated user to push code commits to repositories they can view, including public repositories. This enables attackers with read-level access to inject unauthorized code, directly compromising repository integrity and creating supply chain risk across organizations relying on Gitea for code management.
Vendor-released patch: Gitea 1.26.2. Until patching: restrict repository read access to users who require it; disable 'Allow edits from maintainers' flag on all pull requests; implement mandatory multi-reviewer approval on all commits; enable comprehensive audit logging and monitor for anomalous push activity.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Remote code execution in Gitea (self-hosted Git service) via a code-injection flaw (CWE-94) allows attackers to run arbi
Broken access control in Gitea's Composer package registry (versions up to and including 1.26.1) lets remote attackers r
Gitea before 1.16.7 does not escape git fetch remote. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exp
The git hook feature in Gitea 1.1.0 through 1.12.5 might allow for authenticated remote code execution in customer envir
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (XSS or 'Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in Gitea Gitea
Authenticated command injection in Dokploy (self-hostable PaaS) versions 0.29.3 through 0.29.12 lets a low-privileged us
Reverse-proxy authentication bypass in the official Gitea Docker image (versions up to and including 1.26.2) allows any
Path traversal in Gitea's Org-mode (`.org`) markup renderer allows an attacker who can get Org-mode content rendered by
Container escape in Gitea act_runner (Docker backend, through act 0.262.0) lets an authenticated user with workflow-exec
models/repo_mirror.go in Gitea before 1.7.6 and 1.8.x before 1.8-RC3 mishandles mirror repo URL settings, leading to rem
Server-side request forgery and internal repository exfiltration in Gitea before 1.27.0 lets a low-privileged authentica
Authorization bypass in Gitea versions 1.22.3 through 1.26.1 allows holders of `public-only` access tokens or OAuth gran
Same weakness CWE-863 – Incorrect Authorization
View allSame technique Authentication Bypass
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Important| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP6 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Affected |
EUVD-2026-41627
GHSA-mm7c-rhg6-qr4r
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Exploit-DB