4.2 MEDIUM
- CVSS version: 3.1
- Attack vector (AV): NETWORK
- Attack complexity (AC): HIGH
- Privileges required (PR): LOW
- User interaction (UI): NONE
- Scope (S): UNCHANGED
- Confidentiality impact (C): LOW
- Integrity impact (I): LOW
- Availability impact (A): NONE
NATS has mTLS verify_and_map authentication bypass via incorrect Subject DN matching
NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. Prior to versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6, when using mTLS for client identity, with `verify_and_map` to derive a NATS identity from the client certificate's Subject DN, certain patterns of RDN would not be correctly enforced, allowing for authentication bypass. This does require a valid certificate from a CA already trusted for client certificates, and `DN` naming patterns which the NATS maintainers consider highly unlikely. So this is an unlikely attack. Nonetheless, administrators who have been very sophisticated in their `DN` construction patterns might conceivably be impacted. Versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6 contain a fix. As a workaround, developers should review their CA issuing practices.
References
-
https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc x_refsource_CONFIRM
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https://advisories.nats.io/CVE/secnote-2026-13.txt x_refsource_MISC
Affected products
- ==< 2.11.15
- ==>= 2.12.0-RC.1, < 2.12.6
Package maintainers
-
@derekcollison Derek Collison <derek@nats.io>
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@swdunlop Scott W. Dunlop <swdunlop@gmail.com>