Gitea Remember-Me Token Theft Not Invalidating Attacker Session in gitea.dev
Gitea Remember-Me Token Theft Not Invalidating Attacker Session in gitea.dev
02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE
Affected packages
38 explicit affected versions
03 / CONNECTIONS
Connected vulnerabilities
04 / EVIDENCE
Source records
Gitea Remember-Me Token Theft Not Invalidating Attacker Session
Gitea Remember-Me Token Theft Not Invalidating Attacker Session in gitea.dev
The vulnerability is in the Remember-Me (gitea_incredible) token validation logic, specifically when handling a compromised token (hash mismatch). The vulnerable function is this one: https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/blob/689ace1ce28fd74244b8aa335d9928cdbf6b22f9/services/auth/auth_token.go#L33-L64 ### Affected Endpoint POST `/user/login` (and any endpoint triggering `autoSignIn` via the Remember-Me cookie). ### Description Gitea implements Remember-Me cookies using a split token design (ID:Hash), [citing the Paragonie secure remember-me guide](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/blob/689ace1ce28fd74244b8aa335d9928cdbf6b22f9/services/auth/auth_token.go#L21). When a token is used, its Hash is rotated, but the ID remains the same. If an attacker steals a user's Remember-Me token and uses it to authenticate, the attacker is issued a new rotated token (same ID, new Hash). When the legitimate user later attempts to use their original token, Gitea correctly detects a hash mismatch for the given ID. According to the referenced Paragonie specification, this indicates a compromised token, and ALL active remember-me sessions for that user MUST be invalidated. However, Gitea's `CheckAuthToken` function simply returns `ErrAuthTokenInvalidHash`. The calling code (`autoSignIn`) catches this error and deletes the victim's local cookie via `ctx.DeleteSiteCookie`, but fails to delete the compromised token from the database. As a result, the attacker's active session is never invalidated, and the attacker maintains persistent, indefinite access to the victim's account, entirely defeating the purpose of the split-token security design.
05 / REFERENCES
Further evidence
- https://blog.gitea.com/gitea-1.27.0-is-released/
- https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/56xxx/CVE-2026-56750.json
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases/tag/v1.27.0
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/security/advisories/GHSA-rgv6-xp99-6mgj
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-56750
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/commit/de4b8277e9cb576f2315fb03b5ab6478b42a1d31
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/commit/f69e15afe7496cc62e96dab244629c69eb31a7bf
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/38406
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/38426
- https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea