CVE-2026-53516: Better Auth has an account takeover issue via OAuth auto-link to unverified pre-registered email
The OAuth callback’s auto-link gate in handleOAuthUserInfo admits an implicit account link whenever the provider asserts email_verified: true, without requiring the local user row’s emailVerified to also be true. An attacker who pre-registers a victim’s email through /sign-up/email (which writes a row with emailVerified: false) can have the victim’s later OAuth identity bound to the attacker’s user row, granting both a password login and the victim’s OAuth identity on the same account. This is the pre-account-hijacking class — the same shape as Microsoft “nOAuth” (2023) and the Sign in with Apple JWT flaw (2020).
References
Code Behaviors & Features
Detect and mitigate CVE-2026-53516 with GitLab Dependency Scanning
Secure your software supply chain by verifying that all open source dependencies used in your projects contain no disclosed vulnerabilities. Learn more about Dependency Scanning →