CVE-2026-17556 Details
A path traversal vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an unauthenticated attacker to delete arbitrary files and directories on the instance, including the entire user storage directory containing Git LFS objects, release assets, attachments, and avatars. The X-GitHub-Request-Id request header was used without sanitization as a filesystem path segment for the upload buffer directory, so a traversal value pointed the buffer at an arbitrary path and the deferred cleanup routine recursively removed the traversed target. Exploitation required only network reachability to the instance and no authentication, and it worked even when private mode was enabled. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.22 and was fixed in versions 3.21.4, 3.20.6, 3.19.10, 3.18.13 and 3.17.19. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
View at NVD
Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-17556
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System): EPSS predicts the likelihood that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild. A higher percentage means a greater chance of an exploit occurring. The EPSS model produces a probability score between 0 and 1 (0 and 100%).
0.5 Probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days (41th percentile)
CVSS score for CVE-2026-17556
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System): An open framework owned and managed by FIRST.Org, Inc. that assigns a numerical score from 0 to 10 to software vulnerabilities to indicate their severity.
9.1 Critical

CVE-2026-17556 Global Footprint

Top 10 Identified Countries

Country Observations Percentage
US 114 58.16%
IE 14 7.14%
AU 12 6.12%
CA 11 5.61%
GB 9 4.59%
JP 6 3.06%
SG 6 3.06%
FR 5 2.55%
NL 5 2.55%
IN 3 1.53%

Is CVE-2026-17556 part of your extended attack surface? Bitsight helps security leaders rapidly identify exposure and detect threats in order to prioritize, communicate, and mitigate risk.

View interactive product tours

CVE-2026-17556 Industry Footprint

Top 10 Identified Industries

*Service provider organizations (typically Technology and Telecommunications) are disproportionally represented in the results given their upstream ownership of end-user infrastructure. See our FAQs.

Industry* Observations Percentage
Technology 177 93.16%
Education 8 4.21%
Government/Politics 2 1.05%
Business Services 2 1.05%
Telecommunications 1 0.53%

Bitsight, the leading provider in Cyber Risk Management, introduced the next-generation internet scanner Bitsight Groma in May 2024. This technology continuously scans the entire internet to discover assets, collect asset attribution evidence, and identify an ever-growing set of security observations, such as vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. Groma’s scanning activities presently encompass:


  • 40 million-plus monitored organizations
  • 250 million-plus host names
  • 4 billion-plus routable IPv4 and IPv6 addresses

Greynoise’s recent study testifies the speed of Bitsight Groma.

Bitsight data discovery
Governance charcoal background

Bitsight TRACE team investigates security incidents and identifies vulnerabilities and threats.

View latest security research 

See what you’re up against across the expanding attack surface. Prioritize what matters most. And mitigate where you’re most vulnerable.

External Attack Surface Management