Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-33640

Getoutline Outline 0.86.0 – 1.6.0

Public PoC
Published
26 March 2026
Modified
31 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 9.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0047 38th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-33640 is a critical-severity Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (CWE-307) vulnerability in Getoutline Outline. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Brute Force (T1110); ranked at the 38th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-7 (Unsuccessful Logon Attempts) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-33640 is a high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8) affecting the Outline collaborative documentation service, specifically its Email OTP login flow for users not associated with an Identity Provider. In versions 0.86.0 through 1.5.x, Outline fails to invalidate OTP codes based on the number or frequency of invalid submissions, instead relying on a rate limiter with identified bypasses. This permits unrestricted OTP code submissions within the code's lifetime, enabling brute-force attacks that lead to account takeover (CWE-307: Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts).

The vulnerability is exploitable remotely over the network by unauthenticated attackers (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) with no privileges or user interaction required. Attackers can brute-force Email OTP codes to gain unauthorized access to user accounts, achieving high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), including full account takeover.

Outline version 1.6.0 addresses the issue by fixing the OTP invalidation logic and rate limiter bypasses. Security practitioners should upgrade to this version immediately, as detailed in the official release notes (https://github.com/outline/outline/releases/tag/v1.6.0) and GitHub security advisory (https://github.com/outline/outline/security/advisories/GHSA-cwhc-53hw-qqx6).

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Outline is a service that allows for collaborative documentation. Outline implements an Email OTP login flow for users not associated with an Identity Provider. Starting in version 0.86.0 and prior to version 1.6.0, Outline does not invalidate OTP codes based…

more

on amount or frequency of invalid submissions, rather it relies on the rate limiter to restrict attempts. Consequently, identified bypasses in the rate limiter permit unrestricted OTP code submissions within the codes lifetime. This allows attackers to perform brute force attacks which enable account takeover. Version 1.6.0 fixes the issue.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.
T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
Adversaries with no prior knowledge of legitimate credentials within the system or environment may guess passwords to attempt access to accounts.
T1110.003 Password Spraying Credential Access
Adversaries may use a single or small list of commonly used passwords against many different accounts to attempt to acquire valid account credentials.
T1110.004 Credential Stuffing Credential Access
Adversaries may use credentials obtained from breach dumps of unrelated accounts to gain access to target accounts through credential overlap.
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-64487Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2024-37830Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2026-25062Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2025-68663Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2023-54331Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2024-37829Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2026-41649Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2024-40626Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2026-28506Same product: Getoutline Outline
CVE-2026-24901Same product: Getoutline Outline

Affected Assets

getoutline
outline
0.86.0 — 1.6.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-7 directly enforces limits on consecutive failed logons, structurally blocking brute-force exploitation of the weakness.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Authentication enforcement directly includes lockout, throttling, and MFA policies that prevent brute-force attempts.

DE.CM-03 partial match
prevents

Behavioral monitoring of authentication activity can detect excessive failed attempts after they occur.

PR.PS-04 partial match
prevents

Generating auth logs enables later detection or forensics but does not itself restrict attempts.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

CAPTCHA, account lock-out after repeated failures, and alerts on excessive attempts directly stop automated brute-force guessing of credentials.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204427 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured to lock accounts for a minimum of 15 minutes after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a 15-minute timeframe. prevents CWE-307
  • V-204428 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must lock the associated account after three unsuccessful root logon attempts are made within a 15-minute period. prevents CWE-307

References