VulnerabilityPublished 25 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-33223: nats-server · Authentication Bypass by Spoofing

Affects nats-serverSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.4 Medium : upgrade to 2.12.6 or 2.11.15 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.4Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 11% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2.12.6, 2.11.15

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: Low
Integrity: Low
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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on 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 25 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 30 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 nats-server to 2.12.6 or 2.11.15; nats-io/nats-server to 2.11.15.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
nats-ionats-server	Affected >=2.12.0-RC.1 <2.12.6	Fixed in 2.12.6
nats-ionats-server	Affected <2.11.15	Fixed in 2.11.15
GitHubnats-io/nats-server`pkg:github/nats-io/nats-server`Other threats	Affected <2.11.15	Fixed in 2.11.15

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

AI-suggested

The primary and most effective mitigation is to upgrade affected nats-server instances to version 2.11.15 or 2.12.6, where the header stripping issue is fully resolved. Organizations should audit their deployments to identify any servers running vulnerable versions and prioritize patching. In environments where immediate patching is not feasible, organizations should review and restrict client credentials to minimize the risk of misuse, ensuring that only trusted clients have access. Additionally, services relying on the 'Nats-Request-Info:' header for identity verification should implement additional authentication or authorization checks to avoid sole reliance on this header. Monitoring and logging of client connections and message headers can help detect anomalous spoofing attempts. Network segmentation and strict access controls around nats-server instances can further reduce exposure. Finally, organizations should stay alert for any emerging exploit reports and update incident response plans accordingly.

Description

NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. Prior to versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6, the NATS message header `Nats-Request-Info:` is supposed to be a guarantee of identity by the NATS server, but the stripping of this header from inbound messages was not fully effective. An attacker with valid credentials for any regular client interface could thus spoof their identity to services which rely upon this header. Versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6 contain a fix. No known workarounds are available.

Impact

This vulnerability can have significant impacts on organizations using nats-server for internal or external messaging. By spoofing the 'Nats-Request-Info:' header, attackers can impersonate other clients, potentially gaining unauthorized access to sensitive services or data that trust this header for identity verification. This can lead to privilege escalation, unauthorized data access, or manipulation of message flows within distributed systems. Since NATS is often used in cloud-native and edge environments, the compromise of identity assertions can undermine the security of microservices architectures, IoT deployments, and real-time data pipelines. The medium severity rating reflects that while the vulnerability does not directly cause system outages or data destruction, the breach of authentication can facilitate further attacks or data breaches. Organizations relying heavily on NATS for critical communications may face operational risks and compliance issues if exploited. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially as attackers may develop exploits given the public disclosure.

CWE-290Authentication Bypass by Spoofing (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
This attack-focused weakness is caused by incorrectly implemented authentication schemes that are subject to spoofing attacks.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
REST Security (opens in a new tab)
JSON Web Token for Java (opens in a new tab)
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V3.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.5 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Creating a Rogue Certification Authority Certificate (opens in a new tab)
Web Services API Signature Forgery Leveraging Hash Function Extension Weakness (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoof (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoofing by Misrepresentation (opens in a new tab)
Session Credential Falsification through Prediction (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 25 Mar 2026, 20:46 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-290

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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