CVE-2026-18972 Velociraptor authenticated identity-spoofing vulnerability
An authenticated attacker can spoof user identities via a custom header to escalate privileges and take over administrator accounts in Velociraptor.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-18972?
CVE-2026-18972 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Rapid7 Velociraptor, published on 11 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
An authenticated attacker can spoof another GUI user's identity by sending their request with the custom header \"Grpc-Metadata-USER\". This can lead to an account takeover attack from a user with low privileges to administrator.
Weakness: CWE-290
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-18972?
How do I fix CVE-2026-18972?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-18972 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2026-18972 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-18972 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-62g2-q3w2-xf47.