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Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2026-20706

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-03
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available 7 weeks old

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Gitea versions up to and including 1.26.1 allow repository archive downloads to bypass token scope checks on the web archive download endpoint.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Gitea versions up to 1.26.1 contain an authorization bypass vulnerability where the web archive download endpoint fails to properly enforce token scope checks. This allows authenticated users to download repository archives they should not have access to, as the endpoint incorrectly bypasses the scope validation that should limit archive access to authorized repositories.

MitigationUpgrade Gitea to a version newer than 1.26.1. If immediate patching is not possible, implement additional access control validation at the infrastructure level to restrict archive download access to authorized users only.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Gitea version
    Run 'gitea --version' from the Gitea binary location, or check the version displayed on the Gitea login page footer, or query the API endpoint /api/v1/version with a valid token
    Affected if The installed version is 1.26.1 or any version prior to 1.26.1
  2. Verify web archive download endpoint is accessible
    Confirm the repository web archive feature is enabled in Gitea settings (Settings > Repository > Enable Web Archive Download or similar) and the endpoint /archive/ is reachable
    Affected if Web archive download functionality is enabled and accessible to users
  3. Confirm token-based or OAuth authentication is in use
    Check if users or integrations access repositories via API tokens, OAuth2 tokens, or personal access tokens rather than only session-based authentication
    Affected if Token-based authentication is configured and users can authenticate using API tokens or OAuth2
  4. Check token scope configuration for archive access
    Review the token scopes assigned to API tokens or OAuth applications - verify if tokens with limited repository access can still trigger the /archive/{ref} endpoint
    Affected if Tokens with restricted scopes (e.g., read-only access to specific repos) can successfully download archives from repos they should not access to

You are affected if Gitea version is 1.26.1 or earlier, web archive downloads are enabled, and token-based authentication is used with scope restrictions that are not being properly enforced on the archive endpoint.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch github.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Gitea to a version newer than 1.26.1. If immediate patching is not possible, implement additional access control validation at the infrastructure level to restrict archive download access to authorized users only.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Gitea version greater than 1.26.1 (check release notes for the first fixed version)

  1. 1. Identify the current Gitea version in use (e.g., check admin dashboard or run `gitea --version`).
  2. 2. Confirm the running version is 1.26.1 or earlier, as these versions contain the access control bypass vulnerability.
  3. 3. Plan an upgrade to a Gitea version newer than 1.26.1 that incorporates the security fix from PR #37735.
  4. 4. Review the Gitea release notes for the target version to understand any migration requirements.
  5. 5. Perform a backup of the Gitea data directory and database before upgrading.
  6. 6. Follow the standard Gitea upgrade procedure for your deployment method (binary, Docker, or package manager).
  7. 7. After upgrade, verify that repository archive downloads properly enforce token scope checks.
Caveat Review release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and the target version; minor version upgrades within the same major series typically have minimal breaking changes

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the patch applied

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-20706 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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