CVE
NocoDB privilege escalation in admin bootstrap
Only affects NocoDB before 2026.09.0 on non-cloud instances where the admin email variable is set but the admin password variable is empty. Fixed in 2026.09.0.
Written by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 from the sources below. Verify against them.
- Exploited
- No known exploitation
- Fix
- Fixed in 2026.09.0
- Who is exposed
- Specific setups only
Do first: Check whether your setup matches what the bug needs. Admin email environment variable is set but the admin password environment variable is empty Fresh instance where no user row exists yet Non-cloud NocoDB instance
- Published
- Last modified
- Whether it needs action now or is a reference record, by fixed rules, with why. Last checked is when cve.now last re-read it.What do these mean? →
- Reference
- Last checked
- 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? →
- 21/100 · 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
- 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
NocoDB before 2026.09.0 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in initAdminFromEnv.ts that silently skips super-admin bootstrap when the admin password environment variable is empty. Unauthenticated attackers can call the public signup endpoint first on a fresh instance to receive Creator and Super Admin roles, gaining full administrative control.
Who should check
Teams running NocoDB before 2026.09.0 that set an admin email but leave the admin password empty when deploying a fresh instance
Read the source excerpt
“When the admin email was configured but the admin password was left empty”
cve.now Index
- Exploitation?/40Unknown. No CISA SSVC exploitation rating yet
- Exposure12/25Specific setups only, reachable over the network without a login
- Reach?/20Unknown. No tracked technology or package matched
- Severity9.2/10CVSS 9.2
- No patch0/5No signal
What would change the score
- Would score about 71 if added to CISA KEV
- Would score about 66 if CISA's SSVC rates exploitation active
What to do
Check whether your setup matches what the bug needs.
Admin email environment variable is set but the admin password environment variable is empty Fresh instance where no user row exists yet Non-cloud NocoDB instanceUpgrade to a fixed version: 2026.09.0.
Check your systems with an agent
Paste this into a coding or ops agent. It checks your systems read-only and reports a table per asset.
Check whether my systems are affected by CVE-2026-126273 (NocoDB before 2026.09.0 Privilege Escalation via Incomplete Admin Bootstrap), using the cve.now data below.
Rules: work read-only. Do not run exploit code, proof-of-concept scripts or scanners that send attack payloads, and do not change any configuration, package, image or deployment. Report findings only.
What cve.now has for CVE-2026-126273 (entry last updated 2026-11-13):
Affected:
- nocodb nocodb: fixed in 2026.09.0
Fixed versions: 2026.09.0.
Conditions (all must be true for the bug to be hit):
- Admin email environment variable is set but the admin password environment variable is empty (source: https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb/security/advisories/GHSA-mjxv-r6j7-m8gv)
- Fresh instance where no user row exists yet (source: https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb/security/advisories/GHSA-mjxv-r6j7-m8gv)
- Non-cloud NocoDB instance (source: https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb/security/advisories/GHSA-mjxv-r6j7-m8gv)
Setup: the bug needs a feature or setting that is off by default or uncommon. Check whether each asset has it on.
Attacker needs: network access, no login, no user action.
CISA KEV: CVE-2026-126273 is not listed as of cve.now's last read.
This KEV status is for CVE-2026-126273 only. If you also check another CVE, look up its own KEV status; never assume it from this one.
How to check:
- Installed software: check what is actually running, not what a repo declares. Read the version from each host, container image and Kubernetes node (the binary's version output, the OS package database, image layers), and check whether the conditions above hold there. Distribution packages may carry a backported fix under an older version number; confirm against the distribution's own advisory.
Verify against the linked advisories before concluding, and cite the date you read each one:
- https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb/security/advisories/GHSA-mjxv-r6j7-m8gv
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/nocodb-before-2026.09.0-privilege-escalation-via-incomplete-admin-bootstrap
Do not conclude an asset is unaffected unless you checked it and the evidence covers both its version and the conditions above. If you could not check something, mark it unknown and say what is missing.
Report a table with one row per asset and these columns: Asset | Version or build | Status (affected, fixed, not applicable, unknown) | Compensating controls | Exposure (internet-facing, internal, none) | Evidence | Next action.
Entry: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-126273
For follow-up questions, use the cve.now MCP server at https://mcp.cve.now/mcp (no authentication), for example execute with name cve.get and arguments {"id": "CVE-2026-126273"}.Timeline
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
- Posted on X by cve.now
Affected versions
- nocodb nocodb
fixed in 2026.09.0
Evidence 4
Vendor advisory · 1
Establishes: Affected and fixed versions.
- Advisory
CVE record · 2
Establishes: The identifier and description.
- Record
- Record
Corrections
None so far.
Something wrong on this page? Report an error. Every fix is listed here.
Questions about CVE-2026-126273
Is CVE-2026-126273 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
What does this mean?
An incomplete admin bootstrap lets an unauthenticated caller who reaches the public signup endpoint first become the org-level Creator and Super Admin, which gives full administrative control of the deployment.Source: github.com, vulncheck.com
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-126273?
nocodb: before 2026.09.0.Source: cve.now feed data
Am I affected, and how do I check?
Versions before 2026.09.0 are affected, but only in the setup where the admin email environment variable is set, the admin password environment variable is empty, and no user exists yet on a non-cloud instance. You can check your NocoDB version and whether those two admin environment variables are set on your deployment.Source: github.com, vulncheck.com
How do I fix CVE-2026-126273?
Upgrade NocoDB to 2026.09.0 or later, which is the fixed version.Source: github.com, vulncheck.com