CVE-2026-26190 | Milvus Allows Unauthenticated Access to Restful API on Metrics Port (9091) Leads to Critical System Compromise

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Milvus is an open-source vector database built for generative AI applications. Prior to 2.5.27 and 2.6.10, Milvus exposes TCP port 9091 by default, which enables authentication bypasses. The /expr debug endpoint uses a weak, predictable default authentication token derived from etcd.rootPath (default: by-dev), enabling arbitrary expression evaluation. The full REST API (/api/v1/*) is registered on the metrics/management port without any authentication, allowing unauthenticated access to all business operations including data manipulation and credential management. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.5.27 and 2.6.10.

Published: 2026-02-13 Last update: 2026-02-18 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-26190 is rated High Exploit Risk (76.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.47%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-26190

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-26190

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-27 0.32% 0.47% +0.15%
2 2026-02-19 0.11% 0.32% +0.22%
3 2026-02-14 0.11%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-26190

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-26190

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-26190

GHSA-7ppg-37fh-vcr6 · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: go — Milvus: Unauthenticated Access to Restful API on Metrics Port (9091) Leads to Critical System Compromise

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-26190

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
milvus milvus < 2.5.27 cpe:2.3:a:milvus:milvus:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
milvus milvus >= 2.6.0, < 2.6.10 cpe:2.3:a:milvus:milvus:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-26190

cvelogic Threat Intelligence