CVE-2026-55088

Etherpad: Device-to-device author-token transfer endpoint is replayable, never expires, and exposes the cleartext author token

Published Aug 19, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 6.8 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor. From 2.6.0 until 3.1.0, Etherpad's src/node/hooks/express/tokenTransfer.ts uses POST /tokenTransfer to store an author token for transfer between browsers and exposes it through GET /tokenTransfer/{uuid}. Although the record includes createdAt, the transfer has no expiration check, is not removed after successful redemption, and is returned by res.send(tokenData), including the raw author token. An unauthenticated attacker who obtains a transfer UUID can repeatedly redeem it, receive fresh author cookies, read the cleartext token, and impersonate the originating author for pad read and write operations. This issue is fixed in version 3.1.0.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-vqfp-p66c-xrp9 ep_etherpad-lite: Device-to-device author-token transfer endpoint is replayable, never expires, and exposes the cleartext author token
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Etherpad
Etherpad etherpad
Vendors & Products Etherpad
Etherpad etherpad
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Etherpad is a real-time collaborative editor. From 2.6.0 until 3.1.0, Etherpad's src/node/hooks/express/tokenTransfer.ts uses POST /tokenTransfer to store an author token for transfer between browsers and exposes it through GET /tokenTransfer/{uuid}. Although the record includes createdAt, the transfer has no expiration check, is not removed after successful redemption, and is returned by res.send(tokenData), including the raw author token. An unauthenticated attacker who obtains a transfer UUID can repeatedly redeem it, receive fresh author cookies, read the cleartext token, and impersonate the originating author for pad read and write operations. This issue is fixed in version 3.1.0.
Title Etherpad: Device-to-device author-token transfer endpoint is replayable, never expires, and exposes the cleartext author token
Weaknesses CWE-200
CWE-294
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Aug 21, 2026, 9:48 PM
Reserved
Jun 16, 2026, 2:41 PM
Status
Deferred
Published
Aug 19, 2026, 8:17 PM
Modified
Sep 9, 2026, 9:15 PM