SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system that media organizations can use to securely accept documents from, and communicate with anonymous sources. From 2.13.0 until 2.16.1, running the securedrop-admin install Ansible playbook with journalist alerts disabled leaves the journalist alert key filename empty, causing the copy task to transfer every file in ~/.config/securedrop-admin/, including Onion Service client authentication credentials, to the Monitor Server. An attacker must first compromise the privileged Monitor Server to obtain the credentials, and the credentials remain an additional protection layer rather than sufficient access by themselves because the Journalist Interface still requires a username, passphrase, and MFA, while SSH access still requires SSH keys. This issue is fixed in version 2.16.1.
History

Thu, 12 Nov 2026 01:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Mon, 09 Nov 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Freedomofpress
Freedomofpress securedrop
Vendors & Products Freedomofpress
Freedomofpress securedrop

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 21:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system that media organizations can use to securely accept documents from, and communicate with anonymous sources. From 2.13.0 until 2.16.1, running the securedrop-admin install Ansible playbook with journalist alerts disabled leaves the journalist alert key filename empty, causing the copy task to transfer every file in ~/.config/securedrop-admin/, including Onion Service client authentication credentials, to the Monitor Server. An attacker must first compromise the privileged Monitor Server to obtain the credentials, and the credentials remain an additional protection layer rather than sufficient access by themselves because the Journalist Interface still requires a username, passphrase, and MFA, while SSH access still requires SSH keys. This issue is fixed in version 2.16.1.
Title SecureDrop: Onion Service client auth credentials copied to Monitor Server
Weaknesses CWE-201
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 2.6, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published: 2026-11-06T20:58:10.211Z

Updated: 2026-11-10T20:13:25.018Z

Reserved: 2026-08-07T18:26:53.524Z

Link: CVE-2026-71863

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-11-10T20:13:20.819Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2026-11-06T21:17:10.713

Modified: 2026-11-12T22:18:51.470

Link: CVE-2026-71863

cve-icon Redhat

No data.