Quick answer
Direct answer
Risk scores
| CVSS metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Attack vector (AV:N) | Network: reachable remotely |
| Attack complexity (AC:H) | High complexity |
| Attack requirements (AT:P) | Attack requirements present |
| Privileges required (PR:N) | No privileges required |
| User interaction (UI:N) | No user interaction |
| Confidentiality (VC:H) | High confidentiality impact |
| Integrity (VI:H) | High integrity impact |
| Availability (VA:L) | Low availability impact |
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:H/SI:H/SA:L/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
About Github Enterprise Server
CVE-2026-5921 affects Github Enterprise Server, a product from Github. Before acting, confirm where Github Enterprise Server runs in your estate, who owns it and whether it is reachable from the internet, because exposure decides real risk more than the score alone.
What the flaw is
In plain terms: 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.
The weakness class is Server Side Request Forgery. The server can be made to send requests to internal or arbitrary systems.
Based on its CVSS vector, the flaw can be reached over the network, needs no login, and needs no user interaction. Apply the vendor fix and confirm exposure on internet facing and business critical assets first.
Affected versions and timeline
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Product | Github Enterprise Server |
| Affected versions | Enterprise Server before 3.14.26; Enterprise Server from 3.15.0 before 3.15.21; Enterprise Server from 3.16.0 before 3.16.17; Enterprise Server from 3.17.0 before 3.17.14; Enterprise Server from 3.18.0 before 3.18.8; Enterprise Server from 3.19.0 before 3.19.5; Enterprise Server 3.20.0 |
| Published | Apr 21, 2026 |
| Last modified | Jun 17, 2026 |
| Added to CISA KEV | Not listed |
| Assigning CNA | product-cna@github.com |
How to detect it
- Inventory every instance of Github Enterprise Server and record the running version against the affected range above.
- Check external attack surface scans for internet facing instances of the component.
- Review logs on affected systems for unusual requests, errors or new processes around the vulnerable function.
- Confirm with an authenticated vulnerability scan once your scanner has a check for this CVE.
How to fix it
- Apply the fixed version of Github Enterprise Server named in the vendor advisory.
- If patching must wait, restrict network access to the affected service and put it behind authentication or a web application firewall rule.
- Rescan after the change to prove the exposure is gone, then close the ticket.
CTEM action plan
| CTEM stage | What to do for this CVE |
|---|---|
| Scope | Add every business service that depends on Github Enterprise Server to the current CTEM cycle. |
| Discover | Find all instances, including shadow and cloud deployments, and record versions and exposure. |
| Prioritize | Rank using EPSS and CVSS together with asset exposure and business impact. |
| Validate | Confirm the flaw is reachable and exploitable in your environment and that compensating controls work. |
| Mobilize | Assign the fix to the asset owner with a due date matched to the priority, then verify closure. |
CWE References
- CWE-918: Server Side Request Forgery More CVEs with this weakness
Technical References
Frequently asked questions
Related CVEs
A Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed a repository contributor to cause the appliance to issue requests to attacker-controlled internal hosts, which could be chained to achieve remote code execution on the appliance. The secret scanning validator for GCP service account credentials trusted the token endpoint embedded in a committed credential and issued a request to it without restricting the destination. Exploitation required an authenticated user with permission to push to a repository on an instance with GitHub Advanced Security and secret scanning validity checks enabled, a non-default configuration. This vulnerability affected GitHub Enterprise Server 3.20, 3.21, and 3.22 and was fixed in versions 3.20.9, 3.21.7, and 3.22.2. This vulnerability was reported through the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
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.
A Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed remote code execution on the instance. Insufficient network isolation allowed malicious pre-receive hook code to impersonate an internal service and redirect trusted internal requests to a privileged service, leading to elevated code execution. Exploitation required pre-receive hook networking to be enabled and either site administrator privileges or write access to a repository containing a configured pre-receive hook. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.22 and was fixed in versions 3.17.20, 3.18.14, 3.19.11, 3.20.7, and 3.21.5. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
A time-of-check time-of-use race condition vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed remote code execution. Exploitation required an authenticated user with write access to a repository and precise timing of concurrent upload requests. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.22 and was fixed in versions 3.17.20, 3.18.14, 3.19.11, 3.20.7, and 3.21.5. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
A server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an unauthenticated attacker to cause the Manage API to send crafted outbound requests to an attacker-controlled host. An unauthenticated endpoint parsed an attacker-supplied cluster configuration and issued gateway-to-agent requests whose HMAC authenticated only a timestamp, not the request path or body. An attacker positioned to intercept the outbound request could capture this token and replay it against privileged management agent endpoints. High-availability deployments were not affected due to a topology restriction. This vulnerability affected GitHub Enterprise Server releases in the 3.17, 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, and 3.21 series and was fixed in versions 3.17.21, 3.18.15, 3.19.12, 3.20.8, and 3.21.6. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
A path traversal vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an unauthenticated attacker to delete arbitrary files and directories on the instance, including the entire user storage directory containing Git LFS objects, release assets, attachments, and avatars. The X-GitHub-Request-Id request header was used without sanitization as a filesystem path segment for the upload buffer directory, so a traversal value pointed the buffer at an arbitrary path and the deferred cleanup routine recursively removed the traversed target. Exploitation required only network reachability to the instance and no authentication, and it worked even when private mode was enabled. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.22 and was fixed in versions 3.21.4, 3.20.6, 3.19.10, 3.18.13 and 3.17.19. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
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