VulnerabilityPublished 21 Feb 2026Updated 24 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-27205: pallets flask · Use of Cache Containing Sensitive Information

Affects pallets flaskSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 2.3 Low : upgrade to 3.1.3 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

2.3Low

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

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 34% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 3.1.3

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: Present
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Passive
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: None
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

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

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, 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: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: Present: The successful attack depends on the presence of specific deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These include: a race condition must be won to successfully exploit the vulnerability (the successfulness of the attack is conditioned on execution conditions that are not under full control of the attacker, or the attack may need to be launched multiple times against a single target before being successful); the attacker must inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim (e.g. vulnerabilities requiring an on-path attacker).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Passive: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires limited interaction by the targeted user with the vulnerable system and the attacker’s payload. These interactions would be considered involuntary and do not require that the user actively subvert protections built into the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 21 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 29 Oct 2026.

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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity 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 pallets flask to 3.1.3.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
palletsflask	Affected <3.1.3	Fixed in 3.1.3

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations should upgrade Flask to version 3.1.3 or later, where the issue is fixed. Additionally, review and enforce proper cache-control policies on all responses containing user-specific data by explicitly setting Cache-Control headers such as 'private' or 'no-store' to prevent caching by intermediaries. Audit the deployment architecture to identify any caching proxies or CDNs that might cache responses improperly and configure them to respect cookie headers and cache-control directives. Developers should avoid accessing the session object in ways that bypass cache-control logic, such as using the 'in' operator without reading or mutating session values. Implement security testing to verify that sensitive responses are not cached unintentionally. Monitoring and logging cache behavior can help detect potential misuse. Finally, educate development and operations teams about the importance of cache control in web application security.

Description

Flask is a web server gateway interface (WSGI) web application framework. In versions 3.1.2 and below, when the session object is accessed, Flask should set the Vary: Cookie header., resulting in a Use of Cache Containing Sensitive Information vulnerability. The logic instructs caches not to cache the response, as it may contain information specific to a logged in user. This is handled in most cases, but some forms of access such as the Python in operator were overlooked. The severity and risk depend on the application being hosted behind a caching proxy that doesn't ignore responses with cookies, not setting a Cache-Control header to mark pages as private or non-cacheable, and accessing the session in a way that only touches keys without reading values or mutating the session. The issue has been fixed in version 3.1.3.

Impact

The primary impact of this vulnerability is the potential leakage of sensitive session information through caching proxies that improperly cache responses containing user-specific data. If exploited, an attacker could retrieve cached responses intended for other users, leading to confidentiality breaches such as session hijacking or exposure of personal data. However, the impact is mitigated by several factors: the vulnerability requires the application to be behind a caching proxy that does not respect cookie-based cache directives; the application must fail to set Cache-Control headers properly; and the session must be accessed in a specific manner that triggers the flaw. Therefore, the scope of affected systems is limited to certain deployment configurations. Organizations using Flask versions below 3.1.3 with caching proxies like CDNs or reverse proxies that cache responses without proper validation are at risk. The vulnerability does not affect integrity or availability directly. Given the low CVSS score and lack of known exploits, the immediate risk is low but should not be ignored, especially for applications handling sensitive user data.

CWE-524Use of Cache Containing Sensitive Information (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The code uses a cache that contains sensitive information, but the cache can be read by an actor outside of the intended control sphere.
Architecture and Design
Protect information stored in cache.
Architecture and Design
Do not store unnecessarily sensitive information in the cache.
Architecture and Design
Consider using encryption in the cache.
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
V8.1.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Lifting Sensitive Data Embedded in Cache (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Feb 2026, 12:34 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-524

Technical details

References

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