CVE-2026-12986 Payara Server Full has a Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability
An SSRF and CSRF flaw in Payara Server allows attackers to steal admin tokens and gain full administrative control, leading to arbitrary code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-12986?
CVE-2026-12986 is a high-severity server-side request forgery vulnerability in Payara Server, published on 24 Jun 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
A critical vulnerability in Admin GUI in Payara Server Full 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 7.2026.x, 6.2025.x, 6.2024.x on All platforms that allows the attacker to leak the admin gfresttoken to an attacker-controlled host that can result in a full unauthenticated takeover of Payara admin domain.
A Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the DownloadServlet of the Admin GUI in Payara Server allows a remote attacker to exfiltrate the administrator's REST session token (gfresttoken) to an attacker-controlled host via a crafted request URL. Combined with the absence of CSRF protection on DownloadServlet, an unauthenticated attacker can trick a logged-in administrator into triggering the token leak, then replay the stolen token to gain full administrative access to the Payara domain, leading to arbitrary code execution via WAR deployment. The vulnerability exists in the DownloadServlet and associated ContentSource implementations (LogViewerContentSource, LogFilesContentSource, LBConfigContentSource, ClientStubsContentSource) within the admingui:console-common module.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-12986?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including fish.payara.distributions:payara.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
fish.payara.distributions:payara Maven | From 4.0.0 | 7.2026.6 |
fish.payara.distributions:payara Maven | From 4.0.0 | 7.2026.6 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-12986?
Upgrade fish.payara.distributions:payara to 7.2026.6 or later.
Upgrade, and send outbound requests through an allow-list that blocks internal addresses. More about Server-side request forgery.
Is CVE-2026-12986 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-12986 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-x939-7fq5-v9v6.