CVE-2026-93960
Received Received - Intake

Authentication Bypass in Pixelfed via OAuth Scope Handler

Publication date: 2026-09-20

Last updated on: 2026-09-20

Assigner: VulDB

Description
A vulnerability was identified in Pixelfed up to 0.12.11. Impacted is the function instancePeers of the file app/Http/Controllers/Api/ApiV1Controller.php of the component OAuth Scope Handler. Such manipulation of the argument ID leads to missing authentication. The attack may be performed from remote. The exploit is publicly available and might be used. Upgrading to version 0.12.10 is recommended to address this issue. The name of the patch is 68dca5097305fa0065d029587b2233524636025a. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-20
Last Modified
2026-09-20
Generated
2026-09-20
AI Q&A
2026-09-20
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-93960
EUVD
EUVD-2026-83647

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 2 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
pixelfed pixelfed to 0.12.11 (exc)
pixelfed pixelfed 0.12.10

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-287 When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
CWE-306 The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is an OAuth scope bypass in Pixelfed up to version 0.12.11. It allows unauthorized users to remove followers from an account by exploiting missing authentication checks in the OAuth scope handler. The attack occurs via the POST /api/v1/accounts/{id}/remove_from_followers endpoint, which fails to enforce token scope requirements.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking if your Pixelfed instance is running a vulnerable version (up to 0.12.11) and if the OAuth scope bypass exists. Inspect the file app/Http/Controllers/Api/ApiV1Controller.php for the accountRemoveFollowById function. Ensure it validates OAuth token scope. No direct commands are provided in the context.

Impact Analysis

An attacker with a read-only OAuth token could silently remove any of your followers without permission. This could damage your account's reputation, reduce engagement, or disrupt your social connections. The exploit is possible even if the app appears to request only read permissions.

Mitigation Strategies
  • Upgrade Pixelfed to version 0.12.10 or later to address the OAuth scope bypass vulnerability.
  • Apply the patch commit 68dca5097305fa0065d029587b2233524636025a to enforce OAuth token validation in the accountRemoveFollowById function.
  • Review and restrict OAuth token scopes to ensure only authorized actions are permitted.

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