CVE-2025-68937: Forgejo template repository symlinks let users overwrite server files

Critical 9.5 EPSS 0.5% Gitea / Forgejo

When Forgejo creates a repository from a template repository, it reads template files, expands variables and writes the result; if a template file was a symlink pointing outside the repository, Forgejo followed it and wrote to the symlink target. A user who can create a crafted template repository can corrupt any file the Forgejo process can write to, which may lead to shell access on the server or container. Forgejo rates it critical (CVSS 4.0 9.5). Gitea fixed a similar template-repository file-access flaw in 1.24.7.

CVE-2025-68937CVE identifier
9.5CVSS 4.0 base score (critical)
0.5%EPSS: chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (higher than 43% of CVEs)
2025-12-25published

What do these terms mean? CVE · CVSS score · exploited (KEV) · EPSS · backported fix · all terms

What to do now

Check whether you run Gitea / Forgejo and which version (commands below).
Install the fixed version for your system: see “Patch it” below.
Restart Forgejo with the new binary or image.

Affected and fixed versions

Affected:

Forgejo before 13.0.2
Forgejo 11 LTS before 11.0.7

Fixed in:

Forgejo 13.0.2
Forgejo 11.0.7 (LTS)

Am I affected?

forgejo --version
curl -s https://<your-forgejo-host>/api/v1/version
docker exec forgejo forgejo --version

Patch it

Use the commands for your system. Distribution packages often keep an older version number with the fix backported, so compare with the fixed package versions in the table below, not only with the upstream version.

Debian

not in distro repos: upstream binary

Ubuntu

not in distro repos: upstream binary

RHEL, AlmaLinux, Rocky, Oracle

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh forgejo (EPEL; Gitea: upstream binary)

Fedora

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh forgejo

SUSE / openSUSE

not in Leap 16: upstream binary

Amazon Linux

not packaged: upstream binary

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -Syu

Alpine

apk update && apk upgrade gitea forgejo (or forgejo-lts)

FreeBSD

pkg update && pkg upgrade gitea forgejo (or forgejo-lts)

Docker images

docker pull codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo:16.0.4   # minimum fixed: 13.0.2 or 11.0.7
# set the new tag in docker-compose.yml, then:
docker compose up -d

Built from source

# binary install; back up the data directory and database first
# current releases also include later fixes (e.g. CVE-2026-89094 in 16.0.4 / 15.0.8)
wget -O forgejo https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/releases/download/v16.0.4/forgejo-16.0.4-linux-amd64
chmod +x forgejo
sudo systemctl stop forgejo
sudo cp forgejo /usr/local/bin/forgejo
sudo systemctl start forgejo

General update steps for every system are on the Linux and Unix & BSD pages; after updating, see which services to restart.

Related vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-89094

Sources

Page generated automatically from official sources on 2026-11-03 18:05 UTC and reviewed by an editor. Always confirm with your vendor's advisory.