Vulnerability · Published Sep 5, 2026 · Assigned by VulnCheck
CVE-2026-86178Pixelfed through 0.12.9 Unauthorized Story Access via API
Medium 5.4
In plain English
A medium-severity missing authorization in pixelfed from pixelfed. 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 25% of all known vulnerabilities).
Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.4Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.3%top 74.9% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known
Official description
Pixelfed through 0.12.9 fails to validate follower status in StoryComposeController react and comment endpoints, allowing authenticated users to access follower-only stories. Attackers can enumerate sequential story IDs and submit reactions or comments to retrieve story media URLs and author information without following the account.
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-862 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
References
- Researcher Advisory third-party-advisory, exploit
- StoryComposeController react technical-description
- StoryComposeController comment technical-description
- Story react and comment routes technical-description
- https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed product
- VulnCheck Advisory: Pixelfed through 0.12.9 Unauthorized Story Access via API third-party-advisory