Gitea admin API public-only token scope bypass
Affects Gitea 28.2.0 and earlier, where a public-only scoped token issued by a site admin can reach admin routes. Fixed in 28.3.0.
Written by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 from the sources below. Verify against them.
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- Published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- A 0-100 score for how much a CVE matters across the industry: exploitation, exposure, how widely the software is used, severity and whether a fix exists.What do these mean? →
- 8/100 · provisional
- How many real-world setups can hit the bug, from the vendor's advisory and CISA data. It does not know your setup.What do these mean? →
- Specific setups only
- Fix
- Fixed in 28.3.0
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
Summary
Gitea, the self-hosted Git service, is affected. A flaw in its admin API let personal access tokens restricted to public-only access perform administrative actions, such as viewing private organizations and user email addresses or creating new site administrator accounts that remain even after the token is revoked.
Read the original description
The `/api/v1/admin` route group did not enforce the `public-only` restriction of personal access tokens. A public-only token with admin scope issued by a site administrator could therefore list private organizations and the email addresses of all users, create organizations, obtain runner registration tokens and create new site administrator accounts, the last of which persists after the token is revoked. Tokens of users who are not site administrators cannot reach these routes; public-only tokens are now rejected on the admin API.
What to do
Check whether your setup matches what the bug needs.
The token must be issued by a site administrator; tokens of non-admin users are blocked from admin routes. The token has the public-only scope. Affected Gitea versions are 28.2.0 and earlier.Upgrade to a fixed version: 28.3.0.
Timeline
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
Affected versions
- gitea.dev
fixed in 28.3.0
Evidence 5
- Advisory
- Patch
- Patch
- Repository
- Link
Corrections
None so far.
Something wrong on this page? Report an error. Every fix is listed here.
Questions about CVE-2026-117635
What does this mean?
A token with the public-only scope can reach admin API routes it should not. Its holder can list private organizations, read every user's email address, create private organizations, obtain a runner registration token, and create a new site administrator account that remains after the token is revoked.Source: github.com, blog.gitea.com
Am I affected, and how do I check?
Gitea 28.2.0 and earlier are affected, but only when the token was issued by a site administrator with the public-only scope. Tokens issued by non-admin users are blocked from admin routes. To check, compare the installed Gitea version against 28.2.0 and review which tokens hold the public-only scope and were created by admins.Source: github.com, blog.gitea.com
What should I do about it?
Upgrade Gitea to 28.3.0, which contains the fix.Source: github.com, blog.gitea.com
Is it being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data