CVE-2026-25748VulnerabilityPublished 12 Feb 2026Updated 17 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-25748: goauthentik authentik · Improper Authentication

Affects goauthentik authentikSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.6 High : upgrade to 2025.12.4 or 2025.10.4 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.6High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 52% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2025.12.4, 2025.10.4

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade goauthentik authentik to 2025.12.4 or 2025.10.4.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
goauthentikauthentik	Affected >=2025.10.0-rc1 <2025.10.4 >=2025.10.0-rc1 <2025.12.4	Fixed in 2025.12.4 2025.10.4

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately upgrade authentik to versions 2025.10.4 or 2025.12.4 where this vulnerability is fixed. Until upgrades can be applied, administrators should consider implementing additional validation on the reverse proxy (Traefik or Caddy) to detect and block malformed cookies that could trigger the bypass. Tightening access controls on applications relying on X-Authentik-* headers is recommended, including implementing fallback authentication checks or multi-factor authentication to reduce reliance on these headers alone. Monitoring logs for unusual authentication patterns or malformed cookie usage can help detect exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and limiting exposure of authentik proxy endpoints to trusted networks can reduce attack surface. Finally, conducting a thorough review of all applications that trust authentik headers is critical to ensure they do not implicitly grant access without further verification.

Description

authentik is an open-source identity provider. Prior to 2025.10.4 and 2025.12.4, with a malformed cookie it was possible to bypass authentication when using forward authentication in the authentik Proxy Provider when used in conjunction with Traefik or Caddy as reverse proxy. When a malicious cookie was used, none of the authentik-specific X-Authentik-* headers were set which depending on application can grant access to an attacker.authentik 2025.10.4 and 2025.12.4 fix this issue.

Impact

The primary impact of this vulnerability is unauthorized access to applications protected by authentik when used as a forward authentication proxy with Traefik or Caddy. Attackers can bypass authentication controls by sending a malformed cookie, potentially gaining access to sensitive data or systems that rely on authentik's authentication headers. This compromises confidentiality but does not directly affect integrity or availability. Organizations using affected versions risk data breaches, unauthorized resource access, and potential lateral movement within their networks. The ease of exploitation and remote attack vector increase the likelihood of exploitation attempts. Since authentik is often used in identity and access management, the breach of authentication mechanisms can undermine overall security postures, especially in environments relying heavily on single sign-on or proxy-based authentication. The vulnerability could be leveraged in targeted attacks against organizations with high-value assets or sensitive data, increasing the risk of espionage or data theft.

CWE-287Improper Authentication (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use an authentication framework or library such as the OWASP ESAPI Authentication feature.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
V9.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Fake the Source of Data (opens in a new tab)
Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive Data (opens in a new tab)
Session Hijacking (opens in a new tab)
Token Impersonation (opens in a new tab)
Upload a Web Shell to a Web Server (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 20 Feb 2026, 08:23 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-287

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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