CVE-2026-71863

Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.

Description

SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system that media organizations can use to securely accept documents from, and communicate with anonymous sources. From 2.13.0 until 2.16.1, running the securedrop-admin install Ansible playbook with journalist alerts disabled leaves the journalist alert key filename empty, causing the copy task to transfer every file in ~/.config/securedrop-admin/, including Onion Service client authentication credentials, to the Monitor Server. An attacker must first compromise the privileged Monitor Server to obtain the credentials, and the credentials remain an additional protection layer rather than sufficient access by themselves because the Journalist Interface still requires a username, passphrase, and MFA, while SSH access still requires SSH keys. This issue is fixed in version 2.16.1.

Severity

LOW

CVSS score

2.6 (v3.1)

Vulnerability status

Received

Source identifier

[email protected]

Published

2026-11-06 21:17:10.713000

Last modified

2026-11-06 21:17:10.713000

View original CVE JSON

{
  "id": "CVE-2026-71863",
  "sourceIdentifier": "[email protected]",
  "published": "2026-11-06T21:17:10.713",
  "lastModified": "2026-11-06T21:17:10.713",
  "vulnStatus": "Received",
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system that media organizations can use to securely accept documents from, and communicate with anonymous sources. From 2.13.0 until 2.16.1, running the securedrop-admin install Ansible playbook with journalist alerts disabled leaves the journalist alert key filename empty, causing the copy task to transfer every file in ~/.config/securedrop-admin/, including Onion Service client authentication credentials, to the Monitor Server. An attacker must first compromise the privileged Monitor Server to obtain the credentials, and the credentials remain an additional protection layer rather than sufficient access by themselves because the Journalist Interface still requires a username, passphrase, and MFA, while SSH access still requires SSH keys. This issue is fixed in version 2.16.1."
    }
  ],
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "freedomofpress",
          "product": "securedrop",
          "versions": [
            {
              "version": ">= 2.13.0, < 2.16.1",
              "status": "affected"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Secondary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "3.1",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N",
          "baseScore": 2.6,
          "baseSeverity": "LOW",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "HIGH",
          "userInteraction": "REQUIRED",
          "scope": "CHANGED",
          "confidentialityImpact": "LOW",
          "integrityImpact": "NONE",
          "availabilityImpact": "NONE"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 1.0,
        "impactScore": 1.4
      }
    ]
  },
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "type": "Primary",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-201"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/commit/8947b8a69e0d13d2a0fa9f0082ecc2a28428cf4c",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/releases/tag/2.16.1",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/security/advisories/GHSA-rqwh-4873-322p",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}