CVE-2026-6816 Drupal CVE debrief

Who should care

Organizations running Drupal 7 with TFA Basic Plugins module versions 7.x-1.0 through 7.x-1.2, particularly those with multiple users holding administer users permissions. Security teams responsible for Drupal infrastructure, identity and access management administrators, and compliance officers monitoring for privilege escalation vulnerabilities should prioritize review.

Technical summary

CVE-2026-6816 is an access bypass vulnerability in Drupal TFA Basic Plugins affecting versions 7.x-1.0 through 7.x-1.2. The vulnerability allows users with the administer users permission to improperly access or generate two-factor authentication recovery codes belonging to other users. This represents a privilege escalation issue where administrative users can bypass intended access controls on sensitive authentication credentials. The vulnerability is classified as CWE-267 (Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions). The CVSS 4.0 score of 5.1 (MEDIUM) reflects that while the attack requires high privileges and has limited direct impact, the exposure of recovery codes could facilitate account compromise. Organizations using affected versions should monitor for security updates and audit administrative access patterns.

Defensive priority

medium

Recommended defensive actions

• Review and apply security updates for Drupal TFA Basic Plugins when available from the Drupal security team or HeroDevs
• Audit user accounts with administer users permission to ensure least privilege access
• Monitor access logs for unauthorized recovery code generation or viewing activities
• Consider implementing additional access controls around TFA recovery code management
• Review the Drupal security advisory SA-CONTRIB-2025-085 for detailed remediation guidance

Evidence notes

The vulnerability description is sourced from the official CVE record and NVD entry. The affected product is Drupal TFA Basic Plugins, with versions 7.x-1.0 through 7.x-1.2 impacted. The CVSS 4.0 vector indicates a network-attackable vulnerability with low attack complexity, requiring high privileges, with low impacts to confidentiality and integrity.

Official resources