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CVE-2026-55088 medium CVSS 6.8

Information Disclosure in ep_etherpad-lite (CVE-2026-55088)

Summary

Vulnerability in ep_etherpad-lite (CVE-2026-55088). Confidential information can be exposed externally. Exploitable via prefsHttp. Mitigation: upgrade to 3.1.0 or later.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

Etherpad's device-to-device author-token transfer endpoint is replayable, never expires, and exposes the cleartext author token in the GET response body

Description

Etherpad ships an endpoint pair under /tokenTransfer (src/node/hooks/express/tokenTransfer.ts) that lets a logged-in user move their HttpOnly author token to a different browser (typically by scanning a QR code containing the transfer URL). The flow is:

  1. POST /tokenTransfer — the source device sends a request whose own author cookie is read off the server-side cookie jar. The server mints a random UUID and stores the author token (and arbitrary prefsHttp field) under a DB key keyed by that UUID. The UUID is returned.
  2. GET /tokenTransfer/{uuid} — the destination device GETs the URL containing the UUID. The server reads the stored record and sets the HttpOnly author cookie on the response.

The original implementation has three serious flaws:

  1. No expiration check. createdAt is written to the record on POST but never inspected on GET. A leaked transfer URL is redeemable indefinitely.
  2. No single-use enforcement. The DB record is not deleted after a successful GET, so the same URL can be redeemed repeatedly — each redemption yielding a fresh cookie set on whoever issued the GET.
  3. Author token echoed in the response body. The GET handler ends with res.send(tokenData), which serializes the full record — including the raw author token — into the JSON response. Any JavaScr…

Source: GitHub Security Advisories (Global) NVD GitHub Advisory

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-55088 has been found in ep_etherpad-lite.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like prefsHttp over the network to misuse the product.
Confidential information can be exposed externally. CVSS score: 6.8/10.
What to do: upgrade ep_etherpad-lite to 3.1.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "ep_etherpad-lite CVE-2026-55088" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2026-55088 (ep_etherpad-lite) — CWE-200 / CVSS v3 6.8
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated
Attack surface: prefsHttp / createdAt / develop / TRANSFER_TTL_MS
Patched: 3.1.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

Information disclosure (CWE-200) exists in ep_etherpad-lite. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via prefsHttp without authentication.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of ep_etherpad-lite. Attack surface: prefsHttp / createdAt / develop / TRANSFER_TTL_MS.

🔥 Severity

Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.8/10). Confidential information can be exposed externally.

🔧 How to fix

Update to 3.1.0.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'ep_etherpad-lite' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

  1. 1
    Identify exposure identify 
    grep -r 'ep_etherpad-lite' . | grep -v node_modules

    リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で ep_etherpad-lite を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。

  2. 2
    Apply patch patch 
    Upgrade ep_etherpad-lite to 3.1.0

    ステージング環境で 3.1.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。

  3. 3
    Post-deployment verification verify 
    Confirm patched version is live in production

    パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Affected packages

npm ep_etherpad-lite
[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"2.6.0"},{"fixed":"3.1.0"}]}]

References

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