How broadly exploitable is this vulnerability?

Exploitation is limited to users who previously had access to a repository and uploaded attachments there, and who still retain access to at least one other repository on the same instance. It is not a fully anonymous or unauthenticated attack, but it can be abused by regular users in shared environments.

What level of access does an attacker need?

The attacker needs authenticated access to the Gitea instance and permission to interact with at least one repository. They must also know or be able to reference the identifiers of attachments they previously uploaded to repositories from which their access has been revoked.

What is the safest general fix pattern for developers?

Apply strict, resource-scoped authorization: every attachment operation should first load the attachment, determine its owning repository, and then verify that the current user has the appropriate permissions on that specific repository before proceeding with deletion or modification.

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.5)

Improper Access Control on Attachment Deletion (CWE-284) in Gitea Repositories

CVE-2026-20736

Published:

Jan 22, 2026

Status:

Analyzed

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

NDV

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CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

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Account Takeover / Loss of Account Control

February 17, 2026

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in node-sonos-http-api TTS Provider for macOS

Remote Code Execution on the Server Host

February 17, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Improper Access Control

CWE:

CWE-284

Impact:

Unauthorized Data Deletion

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.5)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Improper Access Control

CWE:

CWE-284

Impact:

Unauthorized Data Deletion

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.5)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

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Made with Love in San Francisco

355 Bryant St. San Francisco, CA 94107, USA

Ask AI for summary of CodeAnt

Improper Access Control on Attachment Deletion (CWE-284) in Gitea Repositories

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Recent Vulnerabilities

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

Missing Authentication for Forgot-Password Email Change API (CWE-306)

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in node-sonos-http-api TTS Provider for macOS

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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