CVE-2026-33246 NATS: Leafnode connections allow spoofing of Nats-Request-Info identity headers
Attackers can spoof identity headers in NATS leafnode connections, bypassing client-side trust checks and potentially accessing unauthorized data.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-33246?
CVE-2026-33246 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in nats-io nats-server, published on 25 Mar 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. The nats-server offers a `Nats-Request-Info:` message header, providing information about a request. This is supposed to provide enough information to allow for account/user identification, such that NATS clients could make their own decisions on how to trust a message, provided that they trust the nats-server as a broker. A leafnode connecting to a nats-server is not fully trusted unless the system account is bridged too. Thus identity claims should not have propagated unchecked. Prior to versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6, NATS clients relying upon the Nats-Request-Info: header could be spoofed. This does not directly affect the nats-server itself, but the CVSS Confidentiality and Integrity scores are based upon what a hypothetical client might choose to do with this NATS header. Versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6 contain a fix. No known workarounds are available.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-33246?
9 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2, nats and github.com/nats-io/nats-server. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 Go | All versions | 2.11.15, 2.12.6 |
github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 Go | All versions | 2.11.15 |
github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 Go | All versions | 2.11.15 |
github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 Go | From 2.12.0-RC.1 | 2.12.6 |
github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 Go | From 2.12.0-RC.1 | 2.12.6 |
nats Bitnami | All versions | 2.11.15, 2.12.6 |
3 more packages
github.com/nats-io/nats-server Go | All versions | None |
github.com/nats-io/nats-server Go | All versions | None |
github.com/nats-io/nats-server Go | All versions | None |
Products include Linuxfoundation Nats-Server.
How do I fix CVE-2026-33246?
Upgrade github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 to a fixed version for your release line: 2.11.15 or 2.12.6.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2026-33246 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-33246 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in nats-io nats-server
- CVE-2022-28357 NATS nats-server allows directory traversal via unintended path to a management action
- CVE-2026-58253 NATS Server: Route API Auth Bypass
- CVE-2022-24450 Incorrect Authorization in NATS nats-server
- CVE-2026-33216 NATS has MQTT plaintext password disclosure
- CVE-2026-58207 NATS Server: Remote crash via integer overflow in Connz pagination
Sources
Also known as BIT-nats-2026-33246, CLEANSTART-2026-DS19189, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-33246, ECHO-6731-3b07-4b9f, GHSA-55h8-8g96-x4hj, GO-2026-4830 and 10 more.