Vulnerability · Published Oct 6, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-105849Payload: API key disclosure through ordinary document reads

High 7.7

In plain English

A high-severity missing authorization in payload from payloadcms. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 23% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 4.0)7.7High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.3%top 77.1% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

Payload is a free and open source headless content management system. In versions from 3.0.0 before 3.90.0 and canary versions before 4.0.0-canary.34, users with ordinary read access to other authentication documents in a collection with useAPIKey enabled can obtain active API keys and exercise the target accounts' permissions until those keys are rotated or disabled. This issue is fixed in versions 3.90.0 and 4.0.0-canary.34.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
npm	payload	3.90.0	GHSA-238x-w2j9-gwwr
npm	payload	4.0.0-canary.34	GHSA-238x-w2j9-gwwr

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
payloadcms	payload	>= 3.0.0, < 3.90.0>= 4.0.0-canary.0, < 4.0.0-canary.34

Weakness: CWE-201, CWE-862 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

References

https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/security/advisories/GHSA-238x-w2j9-gwwr x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/commit/880d2e900be22cd66a9e939f2b3e702fa413180f x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/payloadcms/payload/releases/tag/v3.90.0 x_refsource_MISC