HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2026-5921
HIGH

CVE-2026-5921

CWE-918Published: April 21, 2026· Updated: Apr 28, 2026

8.9
CVSS v3.1
EPSS:0.05%probability of exploitation in 30 daysPercentile:15.1th

Official Description

A server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an attacker to extract sensitive environment variables from the instance through a timing side-channel attack against the notebook rendering service. When private mode was disabled, the notebook viewer followed HTTP redirects without revalidating the destination host, enabling an unauthenticated SSRF to internal services. By chaining this with regex filter queries against an internal API and measuring response time differences, an attacker could infer secret values character by character. Exploitation required that private mode be disabled and that the attacker be able to chain the instance's open redirect endpoint through an external redirect to reach internal services. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.21 and was fixed in versions 3.14.26, 3.15.21, 3.16.17, 3.17.14, 3.18.8, 3.19.5, and 3.20.1. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2026-5921 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), with a CVSS base score of 8.9.

The vulnerability has a "Changed" scope, meaning successful exploitation can impact components beyond the vulnerable component itself — such as the host operating system or adjacent services.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityHigh
Privileges Req.None
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityLow
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L

Affected Vendors & Products

GitHub1 product
enterprise server
Source: NVD CPE · 2 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time
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Official Patches & Advisories

All References (7)

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2026-5921
CVSS Score8.9 / 10
SeverityHIGH
WeaknessCWE-918
CISA KEVNo
EPSS (30d)0.05%
Affected1 vendor
PublishedApr 21, 2026

Related CVEs (CWE-918)

Recommended Actions

  • Apply vendor patches immediately
  • Monitor CVE-2026-5921 in threat intel feeds
  • Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts
Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWATCH.COM. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.