CVE-2026-55089
Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor. From 2.1.0 until 3.1.0, Etherpad's src/node/handler/APIHandler.ts authorizes requests to /api/2/* in the authorization_code OAuth path by using requiredClaims with the admin claim. This check requires only that the claim exists, while src/node/security/OAuth2Provider.ts issues admin: false for configured non-admin users. A non-admin user with a valid signed token can therefore invoke administrative functions including setHTML, setText, appendText, deletePad, copyPad, movePad, restoreRevision, anonymizeAuthor, listAllPads, and listAuthorsOfPad, allowing disclosure, modification, or deletion of pads across the instance. This issue is fixed in version 3.1.0.
What this means for your business
- An attacker can use it remotely, over a network, with an ordinary user login, and without anyone at your company clicking anything.
- FIRST's prediction model gives it a 0.4% chance of attack attempts being seen in the next 30 days, ranking above 37% of all known flaws.
What to do
- 1Ask your IT team or provider whether any of your systems use the affected product.
- 2If you do, follow the vendor's guidance. No patch reference has been published yet.
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Scoring
- CVSS
- 9.9 (v3.1)
- Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L- Weakness
- CWE-863
- Assigned by
- security-advisories@github.com
Dates
- Published
- 2026-08-19
- Last modified
- 2026-09-09
- Sources
- NVD
References
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/commit/8c6104c5d5daf41f0d454acc04d42dffa0e0d996
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/pull/7784
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/releases/tag/v3.1.0
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmh-fph3-mw8q
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmh-fph3-mw8q