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CVE-2026-58416 — gitea.dev

Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions or Privileges

Summary

GetActionsUserRepoPermission (models/perm/access/repo_permission.go) decides whether an Actions task token may access a target repo. Its cross-repo branches each enforce a fork-PR discriminator — except the collaborative-owner branch, which is missing the !task.IsForkPullRequest guard that its sibling has. As a result, when a private repo B lists owner A as a collaborative owner, an attacker-controlled fork pull-request workflow whose base repo is owned by A is granted code-read on B — i.e. the fork's YAML can clone a third private repository it has no rights to.

Details

// models/perm/access/repo_permission.go (v1.26.2), in GetActionsUserRepoPermission if checkSameOwnerCrossRepoAccess(ctx, taskRepo, repo, task.IsForkPullRequest) { // passes isForkPR -> denies forks return maxPerm, nil } ... if taskRepo.IsPrivate { // <-- NO IsForkPullRequest check here actionsUnit := repo.MustGetUnit(ctx, unit.TypeActions) if actionsUnit.ActionsConfig().IsCollaborativeOwner(taskRepo.OwnerID) { return maxPerm, nil // grants code-read to target repo B } }

The sibling same-owner path correctly denies fork PRs:

func checkSameOwnerCrossRepoAccess(ctx, taskRepo, targetRepo, isForkPR bool) bool { if isForkPR { return false // Fork PRs are never allowed cross-repo access to other private repositories. } ... }

taskRepo = the repo whose workflow is running (the PR's base repo A); repo = the target being cloned (B). IsCollaborativeOwner(taskRepo.OwnerID) asks "does target B's Actions config trust A's owner for cross-repo read?" When B trusts ownerA, the branch returns maxPerm (code-read) even when task.IsForkPullRequest is true — i.e. when the executing YAML is the fork's, not A's.

Every sibling enforces the fork-PR discriminator; except for this branch: checkSameOwnerCrossRepoAccess denies forks; ComputeTaskTokenPermissions (models/actions/token_permissions.go) only clamps the token ceiling to read-only for fork/cross-repo (its own comment notes the access decision is in GetActionsUserRepoPermission, so it does not neutralize the gap — it just makes the leak read-only); secrets (models/secret/secret.go) and the approval gate (services/actions/notifier_helper.go) both correctly key on IsForkPullRequest.

Reachability — the runner clones target repo B over git-HTTP with the task token: routers/web/repo/githttp.goGetDoerRepoPermission(ctx, repoB, ActionsUser)GetActionsUserRepoPermission(ctx, repoB, actionsUser, taskID) with IsForkPullRequest == true → collaborative-owner branch returns code-read → p.CanAccess(Read, code) passes → private clone of B succeeds. (CheckRepoScopedToken in githttp is a no-op for the Actions token.)

PoC

Setup: private base repo A (usera/repoA), private third repo B (userb/repoB) with a planted SECRET.txt, B's Actions config trusting usera as a collaborative owner, and a genuine running fork-PR task token (token_hash computed with Gitea's own HashToken) presented as HTTP Basic. Requesting GET /userb/repoB.git/info/refs?service=git-upload-pack:

| Condition (same fork-PR token) | HTTP | Meaning | |---|---|---| | anonymous (no token) | 401 | auth required | | token, A public, B trusts A | 404 | branch gated on taskRepo.IsPrivate ⇒ A public skips it | | token, A private, B has no collab-owner config | 404 | no trust ⇒ denied | | token, A private, B trusts A (collab-owner) | 200 | git clone of private B succeeds | | config removed / restored | 404 / 200 | deterministic |

In the 200 case, git clone of private repo B succeeded and yielded its SECRET.txt — the full source of a third private repo the fork-PR author has no rights to.

Impact

Read-only confidentiality breach: discloses the full source of a third private repository (B) to an untrusted external fork-PR author. Read-only, not write/RCE.

Preconditions (honest):

  1. B is deliberately configured with a collaborative owner — but that is exactly the feature's intended use, so realistic for any deployment using it.
  2. The fork PR's base repo A is itself private (the branch is gated on taskRepo.IsPrivate). Forking a private A already requires read on A, so this is a normal internal-contributor situation, not a weakening — the escalation is "read A (granted) → read a different private repo B (never granted)."
  3. The fork-PR workflow must actually run — most realistically via an attacker who had one earlier PR approved (the "approved before" path in ifNeedApproval), after which fork PRs auto-run.

Suggested remediation

Add the same fork-PR guard the sibling path has (one line):

if taskRepo.IsPrivate && !task.IsForkPullRequest { actionsUnit := repo.MustGetUnit(ctx, unit.TypeActions) if actionsUnit.ActionsConfig().IsCollaborativeOwner(taskRepo.OwnerID) { return maxPerm, nil } }

This flips Vuln_ForkPR_LeaksThirdPrivateRepo to PASS, keeps Control_NonFork_Allowed PASS (legitimate collaborative-owner sharing still works), and leaves the existing TestGetActionsUserRepoPermission suite all green.

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 6.3
  • AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Frequently Asked Questions

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Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

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