# CVE-2026-6848: Quay: red hat quay: authentication bypass allows privileged actions without valid credentials

> Attackers can bypass password re-verification to perform privileged actions like token generation using idle or timed-out sessions.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 22 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fwq2-5p9g-fm29

## What is CVE-2026-6848?

CVE-2026-6848 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Red Hat Quay 3, published on 22 Apr 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in Red Hat Quay. When Red Hat Quay requests password re-verification for sensitive operations, such as token generation or robot account creation, the re-authentication prompt can be bypassed. This allows a user with a timed-out session, or an attacker with access to an idle authenticated browser session, to perform privileged actions without providing valid credentials. The vulnerability enables unauthorized execution of sensitive operations despite the user interface displaying an error for invalid credentials.

Weakness: CWE-613 (DEPRECATED: Insufficient Session Expiration)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-6848?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Redhat Quay.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-6848?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-6848 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-6848 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-6848 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Red Hat Quay 3

- [CVE-2020-27832](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27832/): Cross-site scripting in quay (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2025-4374](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-4374/): Quay: incorrect privilege assignment (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-4956](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4956/): Quay: clickjacking on config-editor page severity (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-4959](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4959/): Quay: cross-site request forgery (csrf) on config-editor page (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2019-10205](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10205/): Information disclosure in quay (medium 6.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-6848 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-6848 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Red Hat Quay 3, published on 22 Apr 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-6848 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Quay 3. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6848/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6848/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-6848
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6848
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-6848

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6848/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.