# CVE-2026-71863: SecureDrop: Onion Service client auth credentials copied to Monitor Server

Status: published. Published: 2026-11-06. Updated: 2026-11-06.

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.

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- freedomofpress / securedrop: >= 2.13.0, < 2.16.1 (affected). Source: CNA: GitHub_M

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 2.6 (low); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N; source: CNA: GitHub_M

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: Not available

- SSVC: Not available

- Weaknesses: CWE-201

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/security/advisories/GHSA-rqwh-4873-322p (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_CONFIRM)

- https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/commit/8947b8a69e0d13d2a0fa9f0082ecc2a28428cf4c (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/releases/tag/2.16.1 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

## Provenance

- CNA: GitHub_M: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71863; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

Revision: be1af340b7dcd6b2244175066a67a929451b5326c7839af3d2882e38a24c1dd4

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-71863

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