Skip to content
Fencer Intel
medium 6.5

CVE-2026-55493 json

HotCRP: comment-author search exposes anonymous commenter identities

published 4mo ago modified 7d ago also EUVD-2026-114367 , GHSA-x3g6-4c5h-7p29

Unreviewed: the maintainers' own advisory

Published by the maintainers on their GitHub repository kohler/hotcrp. GitHub has not reviewed it into the GitHub Advisory Database, so the affected packages and versions are the maintainers' word. Read the full advisory on GitHub.

cvss
6.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 23%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

HotCRP is conference review software. Starting with 2.101, the `cmt:` search term checks whether a comment is visible to the searching user but fails to check whether the commenter's identity should be visible. A `cmt:USER` search can therefore match a paper with a visible comment authored by USER even when the comment is supposed to be anonymous. An authenticated user with access to the search can infer the author of an anonymous comment, compromising reviewer anonymity. Comments that the user cannot see remain excluded from search results. The advisory prose identifies 3.3 as fixed, its affected-version metadata excludes 3.3, and the verified repository tag 3.3 already contains the identity-check fix; however, its patched-version metadata instead lists 3.3.1. This fixed-version source conflict remains unresolved.

Patch / fix

  • hotcrp hotcrp 3.3

Is CVE-2026-55493 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

Check with Fencer

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
7d ago

Exploit prediction

0.30% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 23% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected products

  • kohler hotcrp

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

The maintainers of kohler/hotcrp published their own advisory on GitHub. Reviewed sources take precedence over it.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.