CVE-2026-71863
Published:November 06, 2026
Updated:November 10, 2026
SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system that media organizations can use to securely accept documents from, and communicate with anonymous sources. From 2.13.0 until 2.16.1, running the securedrop-admin install Ansible playbook with journalist alerts disabled leaves the journalist alert key filename empty, causing the copy task to transfer every file in ~/.config/securedrop-admin/, including Onion Service client authentication credentials, to the Monitor Server. An attacker must first compromise the privileged Monitor Server to obtain the credentials, and the credentials remain an additional protection layer rather than sufficient access by themselves because the Journalist Interface still requires a username, passphrase, and MFA, while SSH access still requires SSH keys. This issue is fixed in version 2.16.1.
Affected Packages
https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) =2.13.0-rc1 <2.16.1 || >=2.13.0 <2.16.1Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 2.16.1Related Resources (5)
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Contact UsCVSS v4
Base Score:
2
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
HIGH
User Interaction
PASSIVE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
LOW
Vulnerable System Integrity
NONE
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
LOW
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
2.6
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Privileges Required
HIGH
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data
EPSS
Base Score:
0.21