# CVE-2026-33518: Incorrect privilege assignment in Portal for ArcGIS

> Highly privileged users can create developer credentials with excessive privileges in Esri Portal for ArcGIS, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5qjr-2xxv-p9m9

## What is CVE-2026-33518?

CVE-2026-33518 is a critical vulnerability in Esri Portal for Arcgis, published on 21 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability exists in Esri Portal for ArcGIS 11.5 in Windows and Linux that allows highly privileged users to create developer credentials that may grant more privileges than expected.

Weakness: CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-33518?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Esri Portal for Arcgis.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-33518?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-33518 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-33518 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-33518 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Esri Portal for Arcgis

- [CVE-2024-25693](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25693/): Portal for ArcGIS has a directory traversal vulnerability. (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-13019](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-13019/): Missing Authentication (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-33519](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33519/): Incorrect privilege assignment in Portal for ArcGIS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-2538](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-2538/): BUG-000174336 (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-4967](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-4967/): Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in Portal for ArcGIS (critical 9.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-33518 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-33518 is a critical vulnerability in Esri Portal for Arcgis, published on 21 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-33518 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Esri Portal for Arcgis. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2026-33518/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33518/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-33518
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33518
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-33518

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33518/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.