CVE-2026-23878 HotCRP vulnerable to exposure of submitted documents

Medium 6.5 Published 19 Jan 2026 Updated 20 Jan 2026

Authors can download documents from any submission via the document API due to missing authorization checks in HotCRP.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2026-23878?

CVE-2026-23878 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in kohler hotcrp, published on 19 Jan 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

HotCRP is conference review software. Starting in commit aa20ef288828b04550950cf67c831af8a525f508 and prior to commit ceacd5f1476458792c44c6a993670f02c984b4a0, authors with at least one submission on a HotCRP site could use the document API to download any documents (PDFs, attachments) associated with any submission. The problem was patched in commit ceacd5f1476458792c44c6a993670f02c984b4a0.

Weakness: CWE-201

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23878?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Hotcrp Hotcrp.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23878?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-23878 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and check permissions on every request on the server, not only in the interface. More about Missing authorization.

Is CVE-2026-23878 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23878 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-vh3x-xwj4-jvqx.