Gitea Vulnerability Exposes Private Container Images without Authentication

Summary

A critical authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-27771) in Gitea versions prior to 1.26.2 allows unauthenticated remote attackers to pull private container images without credentials. The flaw, undetected for nearly four years, impacts over 30,000 deployments across healthcare, aerospace, retail, and ISP sectors globally, with the majority in China, US, Germany, France, and the UK. Gitea users are advised to update immediately or implement the temporary workaround of setting REQUIRE_SIGNIN_VIEW=true.

Full text

Gitea Vulnerability Exposes Private Container Images without Authentication Ravie LakshmananMay 27, 2026Vulnerability / Software Security Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a security flaw in Gitea, an open-source, self-hosted platform for version control, that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to pull private container images from Gitea deployments without requiring an account, password, or other credentials. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-27771 (CVSS score: N/A), affects all versions of Gitea prior to 1.26.2, which addresses the issue. According to Noscope, the security defect likely impacts more than 30,000 deployments across over 30 countries and went undetected for close to four years. The vast majority of the exposures are in China, the U.S., Germany, France, and the U.K. Affected organizations span healthcare providers, aerospace manufacturers, retail infrastructure, and internet service providers. "On affected versions, the private designation on a container repository did not deliver the protection operators reasonably expected it to," Noscope said. "Gitea's container registry has allowed any person on the internet, with no account, no password, and no prior access, to pull what would be considered private container images at first glance from affected instances as if they were public." The U.K.-based security company also pointed out any fork of Gitea should be treated as potentially impacted by the vulnerability until it's been independently verified by the respective maintainers. In its own testing, Forgejo has been confirmed to be impacted. No additional technical details are currently available. Gitea users are advised to update to version 1.6.2 for optimal protection. If patching is not an immediate option, a temporary workaround is to set [service].REQUIRE_SIGNIN_VIEW=true in the Gitea configuration. However, it's worth noting that this approach isn't ideal if some containers are meant to be intentionally exposed publicly. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE     Tweet Share Share Share SHARE  Authentication bypass, Container Security, cybersecurity, DevOps, Open Source, Software Security, Vulnerability ⚡ Top Stories This Week Claude Mythos AI Finds 10,000 High-Severity Flaws in Widely Used Software Megalodon GitHub Attack Targets 5,561 Repos with Malicious CI/CD Workflows ThreatsDay Bulletin: Linux Rootkits, Router 0-Day, AI Intrusions, Scam Kits and 25 New Stories Microsoft Warns of Two Actively Exploited Defender Vulnerabilities 9-Year-Old Linux Kernel Flaw Enables Root Command Execution on Major Distros GitHub Internal Repositories Breached via Malicious Nx Console VS Code Extension GitHub Breached — Employee Device Hack Led to Exfiltration of 3,800+ Internal Repos Microsoft Releases Mitigation for YellowKey BitLocker Bypass CVE-2026-45585 Exploit DirtyDecrypt PoC Released for Linux Kernel CVE-2026-31635 LPE Vulnerability ⚡ Weekly Recap: Exchange 0-Day, npm Worm, Fake AI Repo, Cisco Exploit and More Ivanti, Fortinet, SAP, VMware, n8n Patch RCE, SQL Injection, Privilege Escalation Flaws MiniPlasma Windows 0-Day Enables SYSTEM Privilege Escalation on Fully Patched Systems NGINX CVE-2026-42945 Exploited in the Wild, Causing Worker Crashes and Possible RCE Making Vulnerable Drivers Exploitable Without Hardware - The BYOVD Perspective The New Phishing Click: How OAuth Consent Bypasses MFA Developer Workstations Are Now Part of the Software Supply Chain ⭐ Featured Resources Claim ANY.RUN Anniversary Offer for Faster Malware Analysis [Guide] Learn to Detect AI Typosquatting Risks in Your Domain [Guide] Get Key Identity Security Insights From 2026 Snapshot Discover How to Navigate the Era of Constant Cyber Exposure

Indicators of Compromise

• cve — CVE-2026-27771

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