Description

An unauthenticated user may bypass authentication under specific cache conditions.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "5.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-12T15:18:22.603Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-12T15:18:22.603Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An authentication bypass vulnerability exists that allows unauthenticated users to circumvent access controls and gain unauthorized access under specific cache conditions.\nThe vulnerability exposes sensitive system functionality and data to malicious actors lacking valid credentials, posing a severe risk to confidentiality and integrity.\nThe affected systems include caching mechanisms and endpoints where improper handling of cached responses leads to authorization state confusion.\nAn unauthenticated attacker can exploit this condition by interacting with the target application under precise cache state parameters, requiring no prior privileges or interaction.\nSuccessful exploitation compromises the security perimeter of the application, potentially permitting unauthorized data retrieval, session hijacking, or execution of privileged operations depending on the cached content.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of the vulnerability stems from flaws in how the caching layer evaluates and stores HTTP responses relative to authentication and authorization contexts.\nWhen specific cache conditions occur, the application incorrectly serves a cached authorized response to a subsequent unauthenticated request, failing to properly validate session identifiers or access control tokens.\nThe vulnerable component involves the integration point between the caching mechanism and the authentication validation pipeline.\nNetwork exposure is remote, as the attack is delivered over standard web protocols via crafted requests designed to manipulate or trigger the insecure cache state.\nAuthentication requirements are entirely absent for the initial malicious interaction, and privilege requirements are non-existent since the attacker acts as an unauthenticated entity.\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: First, the application processes a request that generates a valid, authorized response, which is subsequently stored in the cache without adequate partitioning keys such as authorization headers or user session tokens. Second, an unauthenticated user issues a request matching the cache lookup criteria. Third, the caching subsystem retrieves and returns the previously stored authorized response directly to the unauthenticated client without re-evaluating access controls or session validity.\nPost-exploitation impact includes unauthorized access to protected resources, exposure of sensitive user or system data, and potential manipulation of application state if the bypassed functionality permits state-changing operations."
}