Medium severity · published Mar 25, 2026
CVE-2026-33248
NATS has mTLS verify_and_map authentication bypass via incorrect Subject DN matching
4.2
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
NATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. Prior to versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6, when using mTLS for client identity, with `verify_and_map` to derive a NATS identity from the client certificate's Subject DN, certain patterns of RDN would not be correctly enforced, allowing for authentication bypass. This does require a valid certificate from a CA already trusted for client certificates, and `DN` naming patterns which the NATS maintainers consider highly unlikely. So this is an unlikely attack. Nonetheless, administrators who have been very sophisticated in their `DN` construction patterns might conceivably be impacted. Versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6 contain a fix. As a workaround, developers should review their CA issuing practices.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 4% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NA
nats-server · nats-io
< 2.11.15; >= 2.12.0-RC.1, < 2.12.6 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33248
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-33248
Vendor Advisory
https://advisories.nats.io/CVE/secnote-2026-13.txt
Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc
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