# CVE-2026-15970: L7 intention authorization bypass via custom public listener

> Authenticated mesh workloads can bypass L7 intention authorization to access blocked HTTP paths when custom public listeners are configured.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 7 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BIT-consul-2026-15970, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-15970, GHSA-h928-jqxm-5f3x, MINI-77jc-fx9r-f9j5, MINI-hvr8-xwjg-c86p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-15970

## What is CVE-2026-15970?

CVE-2026-15970 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in HashiCorp Consul, published on 7 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Consul Community Edition and Consul Enterprise 1.20.1 through 2.0.2 are vulnerable to an L7 intention authorization bypass when a service proxy is configured with a custom public listener. An authenticated mesh workload may reach HTTP paths that are blocked by a path-based deny intention. This vulnerability, CVE-2026-15970, is fixed in Consul 2.0.3 and Consul Enterprise 1.21.17, 1.22.11, and 2.0.3.

Weakness: CWE-647 (Use of Non-Canonical URL Paths for Authorization Decisions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-15970?

1 open source package ship an affected version, including consul.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `consul` | Bitnami | From 1.20.1 | 2.0.3 |

## How do I fix CVE-2026-15970?

Upgrade consul to 2.0.3 or later.

## Is CVE-2026-15970 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-15970 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-15970 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-15970 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in HashiCorp Consul, published on 7 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-15970 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- consul (Bitnami): affected from 1.20.1; fixed in 2.0.3

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-15970/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-15970/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-15970
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-15970
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-15970

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-15970/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.