VulnerabilityPublished 7 Mar 2026Updated 9 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-29190: Aiven-Open karapace · Path Traversal

Affects Aiven-Open karapaceSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.1 Medium : upgrade to 6.0.0 when convenient.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 19:04 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.1Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 33% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 6.0.0

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
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: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
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: 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 impacted component.
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 7 Mar 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 karapace and aiven-open/karapace to 6.0.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Aiven-Openkarapace	Affected <6.0.0	Fixed in 6.0.0
GitHubaiven-open/karapace`pkg:github/aiven-open/karapace`Other threats	Affected <6.0.0	Fixed in 6.0.0

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-29190, organizations should upgrade Karapace to version 6.0.0 or later, where the vulnerability has been patched. Until upgrade is possible, restrict the use of the backup/restore functionality to trusted sources only, and avoid processing backup files from untrusted or external origins. Implement strict file system permissions for the Karapace process to minimize the impact of arbitrary file reads. Employ network segmentation and access controls to limit who can interact with the backup/restore interfaces. Monitor logs for unusual backup file processing activities. Additionally, conduct regular audits of backup files and validate their integrity before processing. Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) or file integrity monitoring to detect anomalous file access patterns. Finally, ensure that Karapace runs with the least privileges necessary to reduce exposure.

Description

Karapace is an open-source implementation of Kafka REST and Schema Registry. Prior to version 6.0.0, there is a Path Traversal vulnerability in the backup reader (backup/backends/v3/backend.py). If a malicious backup file is provided to Karapace, an attacker may exploit insufficient path validation to perform arbitrary file read on the system where Karapace is running. The issue affects deployments that use the backup/restore functionality and process backups from untrusted sources. The impact depends on the file system permissions of the Karapace process. This issue has been patched in version 6.0.0.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-29190 is unauthorized disclosure of sensitive files on systems running vulnerable versions of Karapace. Attackers with the ability to provide malicious backup files can read arbitrary files, potentially exposing configuration files, credentials, or other sensitive data depending on the file system permissions of the Karapace process. This can lead to further compromise if sensitive information is leaked. The vulnerability does not allow code execution or denial of service, limiting its impact to confidentiality breaches. Organizations using Karapace in critical Kafka infrastructure, especially those processing backups from untrusted or external sources, face increased risk of data leakage. The scope of affected systems is limited to those running versions prior to 6.0.0 with backup/restore enabled. Since exploitation requires privileges on the host, the threat is mitigated in environments with strict access controls but remains significant in multi-tenant or shared environments where attackers may gain partial access.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (Path Traversal) (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #6OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Path Traversal (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding (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 14 Mar 2026, 19:54 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-22

Technical details

References

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