GHSA-2V69-2W5X-455J
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-08-18 18:31 – Updated: 2026-08-18 18:31The HTTPPasswordMgr class in the urllib.request module, along with its subclasses HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm and HTTPPasswordMgrWithPriorAuth, did not take the URL scheme into account when matching stored credentials against a requested URL. Credentials added for an https:// URL were also used for requests to the same host over http://, so an attacker able to redirect or downgrade a client to plain HTTP (for example, via an HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect or an on-path position) could capture credentials in cleartext. Credentials added for http:// URLs could likewise be sent over https://.
Credential matching is now scoped by URL scheme. Credentials registered with a URL that includes a scheme are only used for requests with the same scheme. Credentials registered with a bare authority (such as example.com or example.com:8080) continue to match any scheme, preserving compatibility with existing code, including proxy authentication.
Users who cannot upgrade immediately can mitigate by ensuring that applications never make plain http:// requests to hosts for which credentials are registered, for example by not following redirects to http:// URLs.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-15806"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-319"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2026-08-18T16:17:02Z",
"severity": "MODERATE"
},
"details": "The HTTPPasswordMgr class in the urllib.request module, along with its subclasses HTTPPasswordMgrWithDefaultRealm and HTTPPasswordMgrWithPriorAuth, did not take the URL scheme into account when matching stored credentials against a requested URL. Credentials added for an https:// URL were also used for requests to the same host over http://, so an attacker able to redirect or downgrade a client to plain HTTP (for example, via an HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect or an on-path position) could capture credentials in cleartext. Credentials added for http:// URLs could likewise be sent over https://.\n\nCredential matching is now scoped by URL scheme. Credentials registered with a URL that includes a scheme are only used for requests with the same scheme. Credentials registered with a bare authority (such as example.com or example.com:8080) continue to match any scheme, preserving compatibility with existing code, including proxy authentication.\n\nUsers who cannot upgrade immediately can mitigate by ensuring that applications never make plain http:// requests to hosts for which credentials are registered, for example by not following redirects to http:// URLs.",
"id": "GHSA-2v69-2w5x-455j",
"modified": "2026-08-18T18:31:58Z",
"published": "2026-08-18T18:31:57Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-15806"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/155694"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/155696"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/a0d023fbd23773e24b35d8368789470e22cda5d8"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/a2773a34183b7d94a243bb98fd658926cc5348ce"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/a7bb524fef61f77ede01f660ffbd591e1d5837ce"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://mail.python.org/archives/list/security-announce@python.org/thread/3OKPE5S75KDNA7FY7AI3PL2MXM2X5RB3"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/08/18/3"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X",
"type": "CVSS_V4"
}
]
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.