When Gitea's web installer is reachable against a database that already contains users, such as after `INSTALL_LOCK` has been reset to `false`, submitting the install form with an administrator username matching an existing account issued an authenticated session for that account without verifying its password. If the account is an administrator, the session grants full administrative access, including changing the account's password. Databases with a single user also did not require the reinstall confirmation.

Project Subscriptions

No data.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description When Gitea's web installer is reachable against a database that already contains users, such as after `INSTALL_LOCK` has been reset to `false`, submitting the install form with an administrator username matching an existing account issued an authenticated session for that account without verifying its password. If the account is an administrator, the session grants full administrative access, including changing the account's password. Databases with a single user also did not require the reinstall confirmation.
Title Gitea installer authentication bypass for existing accounts
References

Projects

Sign in to view the affected projects.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Gitea

Published:

Updated: 2026-10-06T19:25:28.457Z

Reserved: 2026-10-04T21:59:53.548Z

Link: CVE-2026-96404

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-10-06T20:17:35.500

Modified: 2026-10-06T20:17:35.500

Link: CVE-2026-96404

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses

No weakness.