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CVE-2026-77987: GitHub Enterprise Server: Server-side request forgery

CVE-2026-77987 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 and affects GitHub Enterprise Server. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

A server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerability was identified in the notebook viewer of GitHub Enterprise Server. The notebook viewer validated the scheme and host of a user-supplied URL but did not validate the port, allowing requests to be directed to internal services listening on other ports of the same appliance. Response bodies were not returned to the requester, but response timing acted as an oracle that allowed instance secrets to be extracted character by character. An extracted secret could then be used in a separate interaction with an internal service to obtain remote code execution on the appliance. Exploitation required network access to the instance and was unauthenticated when private mode was disabled, or required any authenticated user when private mode was enabled. This vulnerability affected GitHub Enterprise Server versions 3.17 through 3.22 and was fixed in versions 3.22.1, 3.21.6, 3.20.8, 3.19.12, 3.18.15, and 3.17.21. This vulnerability was reported through the GitHub Bug Bounty program.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.1 9.8: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-208: Observable Timing Discrepancy

Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not.

CWE-918: Server-Side Request Forgery

The web server receives a URL or similar request from an upstream component and retrieves the contents of this URL, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the request is being sent to the expected destination.

Affected products

  • GitHub Enterprise Server: from 3.17.0 before 3.17.21; from 3.18.0 before 3.18.15; from 3.19.0 before 3.19.12; from 3.20.0 before 3.20.8; from 3.21.0 before 3.21.6; from 3.22.0 before 3.22.1

References