VulnerabilityPublished 17 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-81516: SteeltoeOSS security-advisories · Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions

Affects SteeltoeOSS security-advisoriesSource CVE Database V5

Compare

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 4.3.0 soon.

Data as of 1 Nov 2026, 22:58 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 49% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 4.3.0

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

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

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: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 17 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 1 Nov 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 security-advisories and SteeltoeOSS/security-advisories to 4.3.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
SteeltoeOSSsecurity-advisories	Affected >=4.0.0 <4.3.0	Fixed in 4.3.0
NuGetSteeltoeOSS/security-advisories`pkg:nuget/SteeltoeOSS/security-advisories`Other threats	Affected >=4.0.0 <4.3.0	Fixed in 4.3.0

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

AI-suggested

Upgrade SteeltoeOSS to version 4.3.0 or later, where this issue is fixed. Until then, ensure that all Consul service registrations provide valid Boolean values for secure metadata to avoid triggering the exception. Removing malformed registrations will restore service discoverability.

Description

Steeltoe is an open source project that provides a collection of libraries that helps users build cloud-native applications. From 4.0.0 until 4.3.0, ConsulDiscoveryClient constructs ConsulServiceInstance objects by parsing each registration's secure metadata with a strict Boolean conversion. A principal that can register a Consul service can supply a secure value other than true or false, causing the exception from one instance to abort construction of the entire instance list and make the targeted service undiscoverable. When GetAllInstancesAsync enumerates all services, one malformed instance can abort enumeration across every service. The outage persists until the offending registration is removed. This issue is fixed in version 4.3.0.

Impact

The vulnerability causes a denial of service by making a targeted service undiscoverable through the ConsulDiscoveryClient. This occurs because a malformed secure metadata value triggers an exception that aborts the enumeration of all service instances. Availability is impacted until the offending service registration is removed. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity. No known exploits in the wild have been reported.

Summary

CVE-2026-81516 describes an improper handling of exceptional conditions (CWE-755) in SteeltoeOSS's ConsulDiscoveryClient component between versions 4.0.0 and 4.3.0. When parsing secure metadata for ConsulServiceInstance objects, the code expects strict Boolean values. If a service registration supplies a secure value other than true or false, an exception is thrown that aborts the construction of the entire list of service instances. This causes the targeted service to become undiscoverable and disrupts service enumeration in GetAllInstancesAsync until the malformed registration is removed. The vulnerability results in a denial of service impacting availability. The issue is resolved in version 4.3.0.

CWE-755Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles an exceptional condition.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 17 Sep 2026, 16:01 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-755

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats