Gitea maintainer-edit permissions allow unauthorized commits to readable repositories

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

Gitea versions up to and including 1.26.1 allow the Allow edits from maintainers permission path to authorize commits to repositories that the user can read but should not be able to write.

Source published

3 Jul 2026 20:19:34 UTC

Source modified

7 Jul 2026 16:59:29 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: cve-program · CVE Program Terms of Use. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 3.1 · 8.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N

Gitea versions up to and including 1.26.1 allow the Allow edits from maintainers permission path to authorize commits to repositories that the user can read but should not be able to write.

Source published

Jul 3, 2026, 8:19:34 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Jul 7, 2026, 4:59:29 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

7 Nov 2026 06:27:57 UTC

Source terms

ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: euvd · ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

EUVD CVSS 3.1 · 8.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N

Gitea versions up to and including 1.26.1 allow the Allow edits from maintainers permission path to authorize commits to repositories that the user can read but should not be able to write.

Source published

3 Jul 2026 21:16:58 UTC

Source modified

25 Oct 2026 15:10:00 UTC

Observed here

27 Oct 2026 07:23:21 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: nvd · NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 3.1 · 88ee5874-cf24-4952-aea0-31affedb7ff2 · Secondary · 8.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N

## 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: 1. The web UI PR-create endpoint binds `allow_maintainer_edit=true` **without** verifying that the submitter has write access to the HEAD repository. 2. 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. 3. On `git push` over HTTP/SSH, Gitea relaxes the required access mode to `Read` when `SupportProcReceive` is enabled ([`routers/web/repo/githttp.go`](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/blob/v1.25.5/routers/web/repo/githttp.go#L189), [`routers/private/serv.go`](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/blob/v1.25.5/routers/private/serv.go#L337)) and defers enforcement to the pre-receive hook. 4. The pre-receive hook calls [`CanMaintainerWriteToBranch`](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/blob/v1.25.5/models/issues/pull_list.go#L72) (`models/issues/pull_list.go`), which finds the malicious PR, sees `AllowMaintainerEdit=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 1. Attacker forks the target repository. 2. Attacker visits the web compare endpoint and creates a PR with `BASE = their_fork`, `HEAD = upstream`, and "Allow edits from maintainers" checked. 3. Attacker clones their fork, makes a commit, and runs `git push <upstream_url> <branch>` — the push is accepted. ## Reproduction ```bash python3 poc.py --repo http://gitea:3000/victim/repo --user attacker --password attacker_pass ``` [poc.py](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/26641541/poc.py) Expected 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: 1. **At PR creation:** before setting `AllowMaintainerEdit = true`, verify the submitter has write access to the **HEAD** repository. 2. **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 trust `AllowMaintainerEdit` solely based on BASE write access.

Source published

16 Jun 2026 23:41:01 UTC

Source modified

25 Jun 2026 23:11:46 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N

Publisher rating · HIGH

Gitea: Authorization Bypass via "Allow edits from maintainers" allows unauthorized commits to any readable repo in code.gitea.io/gitea

Source published

25 Jun 2026 22:34:31 UTC

Source modified

25 Jun 2026 23:01:15 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

OSV · upstream source license applies

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · OSV · upstream source license applies. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.