{"vulnerability": "CVE-2026-105849", "sightings": [{"uuid": "1293e671-961d-4365-917c-ccd4afc8af91", "vulnerability_lookup_origin": "1a89b78e-f703-45f3-bb86-59eb712668bd", "author": "9f56dd64-161d-43a6-b9c3-555944290a09", "vulnerability": "CVE-2026-105849", "type": "seen", "source": "https://gist.github.com/alon710/f4ab1b85f2f89963240022e8e5e5461e", "content": "# CVE-2026-105849: CVE-2026-105849: Sensitive Data Exposure and Privilege Escalation in Payload CMS API Key Authentication\n\n> **CVSS Score:** 7.7\n> **Published:** 2026-10-06\n> **Full Report:** https://cvereports.com/reports/CVE-2026-105849\n\n## Summary\nA sensitive data exposure vulnerability in Payload CMS allows authenticated low-privilege users to retrieve decrypted, plaintext API keys of other users, including administrators, leading to full administrative account takeover and privilege escalation.\n\n## TL;DR\nVulnerable versions of Payload CMS fail to restrict read access to the dynamically generated apiKey field, exposing active plaintext API keys to any user with standard read access to user collections.\n\n## Exploit Status: POC\n\n## Technical Details\n\n- **CWE ID**: CWE-201, CWE-862\n- **Attack Vector**: Network\n- **CVSS Score**: 7.7\n- **EPSS Score**: N/A\n- **Impact**: Account Takeover / Privilege Escalation\n- **Exploit Status**: poc\n- **KEV Status**: Not Listed\n\n## Affected Systems\n\n- Payload CMS running versions 3.x prior to 3.90.0\n- Payload CMS running versions 4.x canary prior to 4.0.0-canary.34\n- **payload**: >= 3.0.0 < 3.90.0 (Fixed in: `3.90.0`)\n- **payload**: >= 4.0.0-canary.0 < 4.0.0-canary.34 (Fixed in: `4.0.0-canary.34`)\n\n## Mitigation\n\n- Upgrade Payload CMS to a patched version\n- Explicitly configure the apiKey field with a hardcoded read-access block of () => false\n- Restrict user collection read permissions so users can only access their own documents\n- Rotate potentially compromised API keys\n\n**Remediation Steps:**\n1. For v3 applications, update dependency 'payload' to version 3.90.0 or higher.\n2. For v4 applications, update dependency 'payload' to version 4.0.0-canary.34 or higher.\n3. Run a global search on the project codebase for 'useAPIKey: true' configurations.\n4. For any collections running API key authentication, enforce restricted read policies on the collection-level access configuration.\n5. To securely enable administrators to view keys via the Admin UI, explicitly specify auth.useAPIKey.reveal = true in the collection configuration post-upgrade.\n\n## References\n\n- [GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-238x-w2j9-gwwr](https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/security/advisories/GHSA-238x-w2j9-gwwr)\n- [Payload CMS Fix Commit](https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/commit/880d2e900be22cd66a9e939f2b3e702fa413180f)\n- [Payload CMS Release v3.90.0](https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/releases/tag/v3.90.0)\n- [CVE-2026-105849 Record](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-105849)\n\n\n---\n*Generated by [CVEReports](https://cvereports.com/reports/CVE-2026-105849) - Automated Vulnerability Intelligence*", "creation_timestamp": "2026-10-06T20:30:31.000000Z"}, {"uuid": "e65d3146-75fc-4630-92ef-6132e37227f5", "vulnerability_lookup_origin": "1a89b78e-f703-45f3-bb86-59eb712668bd", "author": "9f56dd64-161d-43a6-b9c3-555944290a09", "vulnerability": "CVE-2026-105849", "type": "seen", "source": "https://bsky.app/profile/stackflag.bsky.social/post/3mxbmjib7ww2o", "content": "CVE-2026-105849 - payload\nIf you use the free Payload content system version 3.x before 3.90, a user who can only view documents could also read secret API keys stored in those documents. With\u2026\n\nToo many irrelevant or confusing CVEs? Use stackflag.com\n\n#payload #elliotpayload #npm #CVE #infosec", "creation_timestamp": "2026-10-07T09:20:06.078546Z"}]}