CVE-2026-119547 in Forgejo
Summary
by MITRE • 10/30/2026
Forgejo through 15.0.11, 16.0.0 through 16.0.7, and 17.0.0 through 17.0.1 contains an information disclosure vulnerability in the GetPublicKey API handler that lacks an ownership check on key lookups. Authenticated users with a read:user token or session can enumerate sequential key IDs to obtain titles, fingerprints and public key material of other users' SSH, deploy and principal keys.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/30/2026
The identified vulnerability represents a critical information disclosure flaw within the Forgejo platform, affecting versions through 15.0.11, 16.0.0 through 16.0.7, and 17.0.0 through 17.0.1. This security deficiency is located specifically in the GetPublicKey API handler, which serves as an endpoint for retrieving public key data associated with user accounts. The core technical failure lies in the absence of a proper ownership verification mechanism during key lookups. In secure implementations, such endpoints must strictly validate that the requesting authenticated entity owns or has explicit permission to access the requested resource. However, due to this missing check, the system fails to enforce these boundaries, allowing any authenticated user with sufficient privileges to query arbitrary keys regardless of their association with other users.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it enables unauthorized enumeration and extraction of sensitive cryptographic material. An attacker possessing a read:user token or an active session can systematically iterate through sequential key identifiers to harvest data belonging to other users. The exposed information includes the titles, fingerprints, and full public key material for SSH keys, deploy keys, and principal keys. While public keys are inherently non-secret in many contexts, their exposure facilitates reconnaissance activities that aid further attacks. Knowledge of valid key fingerprints allows attackers to correlate identities across different systems or services where those same keys might be used. Furthermore, the enumeration capability reveals which users possess specific types of access credentials, providing a map of high-value targets within the organization's infrastructure.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-200, which classifies information exposure as an improper restriction of information accessible to unauthorized actors. The exploitation technique corresponds directly to ATT&CK T1087, specifically the Account Discovery sub-technique, where adversaries enumerate user accounts and associated credentials from local systems or cloud environments. By leveraging sequential ID guessing, attackers can perform automated discovery without triggering typical anomaly detection mechanisms that look for random access patterns. This structured approach allows for efficient mapping of the victim's identity landscape, potentially leading to targeted phishing campaigns or lateral movement if those keys are reused in other security contexts.
Mitigation strategies must prioritize immediate patching and defensive configuration adjustments. Administrators should upgrade Forgejo instances to versions released after 15.0.11, 16.0.7, and 17.0.1 respectively, as these releases contain the necessary code fixes to enforce ownership checks on key retrieval operations. For environments where immediate patching is not feasible, network-level controls such as Web Application Firewalls can be configured to rate-limit requests to the GetPublicKey endpoint or block sequential ID patterns indicative of enumeration attacks. Additionally, implementing strict access control policies that limit read:user token permissions to only essential scopes can reduce the attack surface for this specific flaw. Regular auditing of API usage logs should also be conducted to detect and respond to any suspicious bulk retrieval activities targeting user key data.