CVE-2026-55493

HotCRP: comment-author search exposes anonymous commenter identities

State
Published
Severity
6.5 Medium
Published
Oct 30, 2026
Updated
Oct 30, 2026
Reserved
Jun 16, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

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.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.16.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NGitHub_M

Weaknesses

Affected Products

ProductVersions
hotcrpkohler
  • >= 2.101, < 3.3Affected

References

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