Gitea public-only token bypass through Actions runner registration
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-116289 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | Gitea |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-11-01 10:18:34 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-11-01 10:18:34 UTC |
| Description | Gitea did not reject personal access tokens restricted to public resources (`public-only`) on the organization Actions runner registration-token endpoint, and the runner registered with the resulting token was not limited to public repositories. Holding only such a token with `write:organization` that belongs to an owner of a public organization, an attacker could register an organization-level runner and receive jobs of the organization's private repositories that have Actions enabled, including the workflow content, Actions secrets and variables, and a task token with access to the private repository. The issue widens what the restricted token can reach; it gives nothing beyond what the owner's full account can already do. |
Risk And Classification
EPSS: 0.001490000 probability, percentile 0.040220000 (date 2026-11-02)
Problem Types: CWE-863 | CWE-863 CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization
Vendor Declared Affected Products
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/39690 | 88ee5874-cf24-4952-aea0-31affedb7ff2 | github.com | |
| blog.gitea.com/release-of-28.3.0 | 88ee5874-cf24-4952-aea0-31affedb7ff2 | blog.gitea.com | |
| github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/39853 | 88ee5874-cf24-4952-aea0-31affedb7ff2 | github.com | |
| github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases/tag/v28.3.0 | 88ee5874-cf24-4952-aea0-31affedb7ff2 | github.com | |
| github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-qcgm-ggp8-22qc | 88ee5874-cf24-4952-aea0-31affedb7ff2 | github.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: https://github.com/kimc0gi (en)
CNA: https://github.com/silverwind (en)
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.