Is this vulnerability remotely exploitable?

Yes. Any authenticated user with network access to the Gitea instance and write permissions to at least one repository can potentially exploit it via the web UI or API, assuming the vulnerable code path is present and LFS is in use.

What level of access does an attacker need?

The attacker must have a valid Gitea account and write access to at least one repository that uses Git LFS. No administrative or direct server access is required; abuse occurs within the normal authenticated user model.

What is the safest general fix pattern?

The most robust fix is to enforce strict, repository-scoped authorization on all LFS lock operations. The server should resolve the lock by ID, confirm that it belongs to the target repository, and then verify that the user has sufficient privileges on that same repository before proceeding.

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.1)

Authorization Bypass on LFS Lock Deletion (CWE-284) in Gitea Repositories

CVE-2026-20897

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

Recent Vulnerabilities

CWE-306

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

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

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:

Broken Access Control

CWE:

CWE-284;CWE-639

Impact:

Unauthorized Modification of Repository Assets

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.1)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Broken Access Control

CWE:

CWE-284;CWE-639

Impact:

Unauthorized Modification of Repository Assets

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.1)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

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355 Bryant St. San Francisco, CA 94107, USA

Ask AI for summary of CodeAnt

Authorization Bypass on LFS Lock 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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