Auth bypass in GNOME Epiphany
CVE-2026-118598
A logic error in Epiphany's site permission handling can cause camera and microphone access to be granted when the user only approves a different permission. In src/ephy-window.c, set_permission() stores the user's Allow/Deny choice after a WebKit permission dialog. Types CLIPBOARD and WEBSITE_DATA_ACCESS are not stored by ephy_permission_is_stored_by_permissions_manager(), so control fell into an else-if that was written as: } else if (EPHY_PERMISSION_TYPE_ACCESS_WEBCAM_AND_MICROPHONE) { Because that expression is a non-zero enum constant, the branch always ran for those types and wrote EPHY_PERMISSION_PERMIT for both ACCESS_WEBCAM and ACCESS_MICROPHONE for the site origin. The user only saw a Clipboard or Website Data Access dialog. A malicious site that obtains approval for clipboard or third-party storage access can afterwards use getUserMedia without a further camera/microphone prompt, exposing audiovisual confidentiality. Requirements: the victim must visit a malicious page and click Allow on a clipboard or website-data-access prompt. Affected: Epiphany >= 45.0 (bug present at least through 51.x). Fixed: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/epiphany/-/merge_requests/2249 (commit 480c3648). Upstream: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/epiphany/-/work_items/2976 Reporter acknowledgment: Fernando Munoz
Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control
Published .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.005 (40.6th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 41st percentile — 40.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
The 30-day trend appears once there are two daily scores.
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-118598?
- CVE-2026-118598 is a medium-severity vulnerability in GNOME Epiphany, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2026-10-31.
- How severe is CVE-2026-118598?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.