CVE-2026-53516

Better Auth: Account takeover via OAuth auto-link to unverified pre-registered email

HIGH
8.3
CVSS Score
Published: July 15, 2026 at 05:13 PM UTC
Updated: July 21, 2026 at 02:29 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorAuth Better Auth

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Severity
HIGH8.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Better Auth is an authentication and authorization library for TypeScript. Prior to 1.6.11, Better Auth's OAuth callback auto-link gate in handleOAuthUserInfo accepts implicit account linking when the OAuth provider asserts email_verified: true without requiring the local user row's emailVerified field to also be true, allowing an attacker who pre-registers a victim email through /sign-up/email to bind the victim's OAuth identity to the attacker's account. The same primitive affects one-tap, and emailAndPassword.requireEmailVerification: true does not mitigate the link-time verification change. This issue is fixed in version 1.6.11.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 1.6.11
Affected range stops below 1.6.11, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

References (4)

x_refsource_CONFIRMMitigationVendor Advisory
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/better-auth/better-auth/security/advisories/GHSA-g38m-r43w-p2q7
x_refsource_MISCIssue TrackingPatch
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/better-auth/better-auth/pull/9578
x_refsource_MISCRelease Notes
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/better-auth/better-auth/releases/tag/v1.6.11

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

8.3HIGHGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
LOW
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-287CWE-345

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