CVE Intelligence
High

CVE-2026-23526 — CVAT vulnerable to privilege escalation of users with staff status

CVAT is an open source interactive video and image annotation tool for computer vision. In versions 1.0.0 through 2.54.0, users that have the staff status may freely change their permissions, including giving themselves superuser status and joining the admin group, which gives them full access to the data in the CVAT instance. Version 2.55.0 fixes the issue. As a workaround, review the list of users with staff status and revoke it from any users that are not expected to have superuser privileges.

Published Jan 21, 2026 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: GitHub_M

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 0.3% (30-day exploitation probability)+3
  • Technical severity (high)+6

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
0.29%
ahead of 20% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026
Affects
Cvat
Computer Vision Annotation Tool and 1 more
CVSS base
8.8
High · 3 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
None
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Total
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

  • Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
  • Documented mitigation — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Cvat Computer Vision Annotation Tool, Cvat-ai Cvat).
  2. Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
  3. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Cvat Computer Vision Annotation Tool ≥ 1.0.0 and < 2.55.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Cvat-ai Cvat version >= 1.0.0, < 2.55.0 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
8.5 CVSS 4.0 High — — security-advisories@github.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
8.5 CVSS 4.0 High — — GitHub_M via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
8.8 CVSS 3.1 High 2.8 5.9 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-267

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.29%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPS

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · cvat-ai/cvat
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 13, 2026
  • Fix documented
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 8.8
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Analyzed
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVE published
    Jan 21, 2026 · GitHub_M

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

2 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Cvat
every CVE for this vendor
CWE-267
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-73220 CVAT: Stored XSS via annotation guides in audio tasks Aug 20, 2026
  • CVE-2026-73221 CVAT: Flawed authorization logic in endpoints related to lambda requests Aug 11, 2026
  • CVE-2026-73219 CVAT: Denial of service with regards to automatic annotation Aug 11, 2026
  • CVE-2026-65986 CVAT has stored XSS via annotation guide assets Aug 4, 2026
  • CVE-2026-47682 CVAT: Missing path-containment validation in multiple entry points allows arbitrary path writes Aug 4, 2026
  • CVE-2026-58373 CVAT < 2.69.0 - Missing Authorization on Quality Reports parent_id Filter Leaks Cross-Organization Report Existence Jun 30, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-23526 is "CVAT vulnerable to privilege escalation of users with staff status", rated High. It affects Computer Vision Annotation Tool (Cvat); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 8.8 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.29% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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