# CVE-2026-73273: Gitea Maven checksum upload quota bypass and memory exhaustion

> Authenticated users can bypass upload quotas and exhaust server memory by sending oversized data to Gitea's Maven checksum endpoint.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **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:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5xcq-p92v-43rf

## What is CVE-2026-73273?

CVE-2026-73273 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gitea, published on 14 Oct 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Gitea's Maven upload handler reads checksum uploads entirely into memory and returns before enforcing package-size quotas. An authenticated user with package-publish permission can submit an oversized body to a checksum endpoint despite legitimate checksum values being at most 128 bytes. This bypasses the upload quota on that path and can exhaust server memory.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-73273?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-73273?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-73273 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-73273 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-73273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-73273 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-73273 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gitea, published on 14 Oct 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-2026-73273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gitea. 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-2026-73273/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-73273/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-73273
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-73273
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-73273

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-73273/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.