CVE-2026-88021: CWE-185: Incorrect Regular Expression in HashiCorp Consul
HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise contain an authorization bypass vulnerability in the Connect service mesh due to incorrect escaping of certain characters in service names, namespaces, and partitions. This causes Envoy RBAC rules to match more broadly than intended, potentially allowing unauthorized service access. The issue is fixed in Consul 2.0.4 and Consul Enterprise versions 1.21.18, 1.22.12, and 2.0.4.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
CVE-2026-88021 is an authorization bypass vulnerability in HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise's Connect service mesh. The vulnerability arises because Consul does not properly escape certain characters in service names, namespaces, and partitions when generating Envoy RBAC rules to enforce Connect intentions. This incorrect regular expression handling causes the authorization rules to match more broadly than intended, potentially allowing a service to access destinations it is not authorized to reach. The vulnerability is identified as CWE-185 (Incorrect Regular Expression).
Potential Impact
An attacker with the ability to define or influence service names, namespaces, or partitions could exploit this vulnerability to bypass intended authorization restrictions in the Connect service mesh. This could lead to unauthorized access to services, impacting confidentiality (high impact), with limited integrity impact and no availability impact as per the CVSS vector.
Mitigation Recommendations
This vulnerability is fixed in Consul 2.0.4 and Consul Enterprise versions 1.21.18, 1.22.12, and 2.0.4. Users should upgrade to these versions or later to remediate the issue. No other mitigation or temporary workaround is indicated in the available data.
CVE-2026-88021: CWE-185: Incorrect Regular Expression in HashiCorp Consul
Description
HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise contain an authorization bypass vulnerability in the Connect service mesh due to incorrect escaping of certain characters in service names, namespaces, and partitions. This causes Envoy RBAC rules to match more broadly than intended, potentially allowing unauthorized service access. The issue is fixed in Consul 2.0.4 and Consul Enterprise versions 1.21.18, 1.22.12, and 2.0.4.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.5high
Affected software
HashiCorp
Consul
HashiCorp
Consul Enterprise
pkg:github/Consul EnterpriseRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-88021 is an authorization bypass vulnerability in HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise's Connect service mesh. The vulnerability arises because Consul does not properly escape certain characters in service names, namespaces, and partitions when generating Envoy RBAC rules to enforce Connect intentions. This incorrect regular expression handling causes the authorization rules to match more broadly than intended, potentially allowing a service to access destinations it is not authorized to reach. The vulnerability is identified as CWE-185 (Incorrect Regular Expression).
Potential Impact
An attacker with the ability to define or influence service names, namespaces, or partitions could exploit this vulnerability to bypass intended authorization restrictions in the Connect service mesh. This could lead to unauthorized access to services, impacting confidentiality (high impact), with limited integrity impact and no availability impact as per the CVSS vector.
Mitigation Recommendations
This vulnerability is fixed in Consul 2.0.4 and Consul Enterprise versions 1.21.18, 1.22.12, and 2.0.4. Users should upgrade to these versions or later to remediate the issue. No other mitigation or temporary workaround is indicated in the available data.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- HashiCorp
- Date Reserved
- 2026-09-09T19:40:49.639Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6aa3023cd29482f9ab044adc
Added to database: 09/10/2026, 19:17:16 UTC
Last enriched: 09/10/2026, 19:20:27 UTC
Last updated: 09/10/2026, 19:21:28 UTC
Views: 7
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