CVE-2026-33246 | NATS: Leafnode connections allow spoofing of Nats-Request-Info identity headers

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.

Published: 2026-03-25 Last update: 2026-03-26 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-33246 is rated Low Risk (28/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-33246

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 2026-03-26 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-33246

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.1 2.7 [email protected]
5.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 2.5 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-33246

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-33246

GHSA-55h8-8g96-x4hj · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — NATS: Leafnode connections allow spoofing of Nats-Request-Info identity headers

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-33246

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2026-33246: 1 source package rows (nats-server); 39 state rows across 2 repos (3.23-community, edge-community); fixed 2, open 37. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-33246
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-33246 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (nats-server), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bookworm, forky, sid, trixie): open 2, resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-33246
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33246
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33246/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-33246 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nats-server), 4 status rows across 4 suites (jammy, noble, questing, upstream): needs-triage 3, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-33246

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-33246

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation nats-server < 2.11.15 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:nats-server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation nats-server >= 2.12.0, < 2.12.6 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:nats-server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-33246

cvelogic Threat Intelligence