CVE-2026-90979
LDAPCache and LDAPBackingEngine build LDAP search filters for user lookup and role lookup by…
- Risk score
- 56/100
- CVSS
- 7.3 v3.1
- Exploit chance (30 days)
- 0.4%
- Published
- 28 Sep 2026
Open in the live forecast Today's forecast
What to know
- What it is
- LDAPCache and LDAPBackingEngine build LDAP search filters for user lookup and role lookup by textually substituting the placeholders %u, %dn, and %fqdn (drawn from the login name, the resolved user DN, and its fully qualified namespace form) into administrator-configured filter templates (userFilter, roleFilter). Befo…
- Affected
- Apache Karaf
- Fix
- Apply the vendor's security update; see the linked advisory.
- Exploitation
- No known exploitation
Story map
At a glance
Apache Karaf: Amber, patch this week. org.apache.karaf.config.core.impl.ConfigRepositoryImpl#update(pid, properties), which backs the "config" MBean and the config:* shell commands, derives the file it writes a configuration to from caller-supplied input without checking that the result stays inside ${karaf.etc}: if the submitted property map contains a f…
The flaws
- CVE-2026-90979: LDAPCache and LDAPBackingEngine build LDAP search filters for user lookup and role lookup by… (CVSS 7.3 · EPSS 0%)
- CVE-2026-91012: Path traversal (CVSS 9.8 · EPSS 1%)
- CVE-2026-91048: The jdbc shell command scope shipped no org.apache.karaf.command.acl.jdbc.cfg (CVSS 9.8 · EPSS 1%)
- CVE-2026-91006: OS command injection (CVSS 8.8 · EPSS 1%)
The fix
Fix: Apply the vendor's security update; see the linked advisory.
Who is exposed: Apache Karaf
Where it stands
- No known exploitation
Connects to
- Same weakness: CWE-90 (CWE-90). 5 other warnings in 30 days
- Same product: Earlier Apache Karaf warnings. 2 in the last 90 days
Why it is Yellow
- CVSS 7.3 high
- Remotely exploitable without logging in
References
Original description
LDAPCache and LDAPBackingEngine build LDAP search filters for user lookup and role lookup by textually substituting the placeholders %u, %dn, and %fqdn (drawn from the login name, the resolved user DN, and its fully qualified namespace form) into administrator-configured filter templates (userFilter, roleFilter). Before the fix, the only sanitization applied to the substituted value was double backslashed: filter = filter.replaceAll(Pattern.quote("%u"), Matcher.quoteReplacement(user)); filter = filter.replace("\\", "\\\\"); This does not escape the other characters RFC 4515 requires escaping in an LDAP search filter: *, (, ), and NUL. A login name containing any of these can change the structure of the resulting filter rather than being matched as a literal value (e.g. a crafted username can turn an equality match into a wildcard match, or close/reopen filter clauses), widening what the search returns and potentially causing a login or role lookup to match an LDAP entry other than the intended one, over-granting roles, and depending on deployment-specific filter templates, potentially affecting which account a login resolved to. It's not exploitable through every entry points: LDAPLoginModule and LDAPPubkeyLoginModule both called Util.doRFC2254Encoding() (correct RFC 4515 escaping) on the login name before handing it to LDAPCache, which masked the missing escaping in LDAPCache for those two call paths. Using LDAPCache directly (bypassing the login modules) does not reproduce through the normal LDAPLoginModule/LDAPPubkeyLoginModule authentication flow for this reason. It does reproduce through two other call paths that reach LDAPCache/LDAPBackingEngine without any prior escaping: * GSSAPILdapLoginModule passes the NameCallback name straight through, unescaped. * LDAPBackingEngine (listRoles) passes principal.getName() straight through, unescaped.
Last activity 28 Sep 2026. Patch Forecast updates every hour.