Medium severity · published Sep 16, 2026
CVE-2026-84501
Apache ZooKeeper: Operational log forgery via newline injection in EnsembleAuthenticationProvider
5.3
CVSS
0.7%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
An unauthenticated attacker can inject arbitrary fake log lines into Apache ZooKeeper's operational log by sending a crafted add_auth("ensemble", ...) request containing newline characters (\n). When the ensemble name doesn't match, EnsembleAuthenticationProvider.handleAuthentication() logs the raw, unsanitized name via LOG.warn(). Because SLF4J's {} placeholder preserves embedded newlines, the attacker can forge complete log entries — with arbitrary timestamps, log levels, class names, and messages — that are visually indistinguishable from genuine ZooKeeper log output. This issue affects Apache ZooKeeper: from 3.9.0 through 3.9.5, from 3.8.0 through 3.8.6. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.8.7 or 3.9.6, which fixes the issue.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.7% · higher than 54% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AZ
Apache ZooKeeper · Apache Software Foundation
3.9.0 through 3.9.5; 3.8.0 through 3.8.6 · source: vendor
ZO
Zookeeper · Apache
3.8.0 before 3.8.7; 3.9.0 before 3.9.6 · source: NVD
Affected product
AZ
Apache ZooKeeper
Apache Software Foundation
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