CVE-2026-118598 - A logic error in Epiphany's site permission handling can cause camera and microphone access to be granted when the user
A logic error in Epiphany's site permission handling can cause camera and microphone access to be granted when the user only approves a different permission.
In src/ephy-window.c, set_permission() stores the user's Allow/Deny choice after a WebKit permission dialog. Types CLIPBOARD and WEBSITE_DATA_ACCESS are not stored by ephy_permission_is_stored_by_permissions_manager(), so control fell into an else-if that was written as:
} else if (EPHY_PERMISSION_TYPE_ACCESS_WEBCAM_AND_MICROPHONE) {
Because that expression is a non-zero enum constant, the branch always ran for those types and wrote EPHY_PERMISSION_PERMIT for both ACCESS_WEBCAM and ACCESS_MICROPHONE for the site origin. The user only saw a Clipboard or Website Data Access dialog.
A malicious site that obtains approval for clipboard or third-party storage access can afterwards use getUserMedia without a further camera/microphone prompt, exposing audiovisual confidentiality.
Requirements: the victim must visit a malicious page and click Allow on a clipboard or website-data-access prompt.
Affected: Epiphany >= 45.0 (bug present at least through 51.x).
Fixed: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/epiphany/-/merge_requests/2249 (commit 480c3648).
Upstream: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/epiphany/-/work_items/2976
Reporter acknowledgment: Fernando Munoz
MEDIUM
Severity & confidence
Source severitymedium
Platform severitymedium
Confidencehigh
Exploitationunknown
CVSS6.5
Affected
Reporting sources (1)
NIST NVD - National Vulnerability Database
Timeline & provenance
Published2026-10-31T10:16:37
Last updated2026-11-03T09:59:22
Ingested2026-11-02T12:32:35
FreshnessNEAR-REAL-TIME
Threat typevulnerability
Recommended action
No recommended action published with this item - review the original source.
Next steps
- Identify affected systems in your environment.
- Apply the vendor patch or mitigation guidance.
- Review logs for indicators described in the advisory.
- Follow the affected vendor/product to track updates.
Confidence explanation
Reported by a government or cert-grade source (CISA, NCSC, NVD, ENISA, MSRC).
Source type: standards ยท Original: NIST NVD - National Vulnerability Database