CVE-2026-55089Etherpad: JWT `admin` claim presence-only check lets non-admin OAuth users invoke every Etherpad HTTP API endpoint
- 9.9CriticalCVSS base score
- 0.46%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 59% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
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.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Show the exploits1
References tagged exploit1 reference
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmh-fph3-mw8q (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 2 months later
· 2 months later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Critical9.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Critical9.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.46% · top 59% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.9.
Affected products
References
References4
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmh-fph3-mw8q (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/pull/7784 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/commit/8c6104c5d5daf41f0d454acc04d42dffa0e0d996 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/ether/etherpad/releases/tag/v3.1.0 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-62737 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-55089)Record last updated .