CVE-2026-55984: Gitea NULL pointer dereference in AddTime API

CVE-2026-55984 · Severity: low · CVSS 3.1 · Published 2026-07-21

A vulnerability in Gitea, a popular self-hosted Git service, allows a repository administrator to crash the server by providing a non-existent username when tracking time on an issue. This can lead to service outages, excessive log generation, or the disclosure of technical stack traces to the user. The issue is caused by the system failing to stop processing after an error occurs, resulting in a software crash.

Technologies: Gitea, code.gitea.io/gitea (Go), gitea.dev (Go). Vendors: Gitea, Go.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-55984 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-55984 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-55984?
Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 21 July 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?
Gitea < 1.27.0; code.gitea.io/gitea (Go) < 1.27.0, SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=1.27.0; gitea.dev (Go) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=1.27.0.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-55984?
Yes. code.gitea.io/gitea (Go): upgrade to 1.27.0 or later; gitea.dev (Go): upgrade to 1.27.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-55984 attacked?
It is attacked over the network, in a network appliance.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-55984?
Check whether you run Gitea, code.gitea.io/gitea (Go) or gitea.dev (Go) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

  • code.gitea.io/gitea (Go): upgrade to 1.27.0 or later
    go get code.gitea.io/gitea@v1.27.0
  • gitea.dev (Go): upgrade to 1.27.0 or later
    go get gitea.dev@v1.27.0

Technical details

A NULL pointer dereference (CWE-476) exists in the AddTime API handler within `routers/api/v1/repo/issue_tracked_time.go`. The vulnerability occurs because the code fails to return after an error is encountered in `user_model.GetUserByName()`. If a repository administrator provides a non-existent username in a POST request to `/api/v1/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{index}/times`, the `user` object remains nil, but execution continues to `issues_model.AddTime()`, which dereferences the nil pointer. This triggers a Go runtime panic, potentially leading to a denial of service. The issue is fixed in Gitea version 1.27.0.

Affected products

  • Gitea Gitea < 1.27.0

Identifiers

  • CVE-2026-55984
  • GHSA-m932-crvm-gcp5
  • GO-2026-6064

Timeline

  • 2026-07-13: disclosed: Initial report by martijnperdaan52
  • 2026-07-21: advisory: GitHub Advisory published
  • 2026-07-21: patched: Fixed in version 1.27.0

References

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