VulnerabilityPublished 14 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-53714: envoyproxy gateway · Missing Authentication

Affects envoyproxy gatewaySource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.4 High : upgrade to 1.8.1 or 1.7.4 soon.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.4High

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 28% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.8.1, 1.7.4

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

Attack Vector: Adjacent
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: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
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 14 Sep 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 gateway and envoyproxy/gateway to 1.8.1 or 1.7.4.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
envoyproxygateway	Affected >=1.8.0-rc.0 <1.8.1	Fixed in 1.8.1
envoyproxygateway	Affected <1.7.4	Fixed in 1.7.4
GitHubenvoyproxy/gateway`pkg:github/envoyproxy/gateway`Other threats	Affected <1.7.4 >=1.8.0-rc.0 <1.8.1	Fixed in 1.7.4 1.8.1

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

AI-suggested

Upgrade Envoy Gateway to version 1.7.4 or later, or 1.8.1 or later, where this authentication bypass vulnerability is fixed. No other mitigations are indicated or required as the fix is official and addresses the root cause.

Description

Envoy Gateway is an open source project for managing Envoy Proxy as a standalone or Kubernetes-based application gateway. Prior to 1.7.4 and 1.8.1, the xDS gRPC server in GatewayNamespaceMode, configured through provider.kubernetes.deploy.type=GatewayNamespace, installs a JWT StreamInterceptor but no UnaryInterceptor, leaving every unary Fetch RPC unauthenticated. The streaming interceptor also authenticates only discoveryv3.DeltaDiscoveryRequest messages; a discoveryv3.DiscoveryRequest used by the State-of-the-World protocol fails the type assertion and returns success without JWT validation. Any pod that can reach port 18000 can use the unauthenticated unary or State-of-the-World paths to retrieve TLS private keys through StreamSecrets, all xDS resources through StreamAggregatedResources, backend endpoints through StreamClusters or StreamEndpoints, and routing configuration through StreamRoutes or StreamListeners. This issue is fixed in versions 1.7.4 and 1.8.1.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability allows an attacker with network access to the Envoy Gateway's xDS gRPC server port (18000) to retrieve highly sensitive information including TLS private keys, all xDS resources, backend endpoints, and routing configurations without authentication. This compromises confidentiality but does not affect integrity or availability. The CVSS 3.1 score is 7.4 (High), reflecting the high impact on confidentiality with low attack complexity and no required privileges or user interaction.

Summary

The vulnerability (CVE-2026-53714) in Envoy Gateway arises from the absence of a UnaryInterceptor for authentication in the xDS gRPC server when configured in GatewayNamespaceMode. While a JWT StreamInterceptor is installed, it only authenticates DeltaDiscoveryRequest messages, allowing DiscoveryRequest messages used by the State-of-the-World protocol to bypass JWT validation. Consequently, any pod able to connect to port 18000 can perform unauthenticated unary or streaming RPC calls to access critical secrets and configuration data. This missing authentication for critical functions is classified under CWE-306. The vulnerability is fixed in Envoy Gateway versions 1.7.4 and 1.8.1.

CWE-306Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #21OWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources.
Architecture and Design
Divide the software into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Identify which of these areas require a proven user identity, and use a centralized authentication capability.
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…
Architecture and Design
Where possible, avoid implementing custom, "grow-your-own" authentication routines and consider using authentication capabilities as provided by the surrounding framework, operating system, or environment.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.2.3 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Choosing Message Identifier (opens in a new tab)
Force the System to Reset Values (opens in a new tab)
Using Unpublished Interfaces or Functionality (opens in a new tab)
Cross Site Request Forgery (opens in a new tab)
Communication Channel Manipulation (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 22 Sep 2026, 01:05 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-306

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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