Critical severity · published Sep 29, 2026
CVE-2026-91048
Apache Karaf: Missing authorization on the jdbc:* shell command scope allows privilege escalation to remote code execution via jdbc:ds-create
9.8
CVSS
0.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
The jdbc shell command scope shipped no org.apache.karaf.command.acl.jdbc.cfg. Karaf's command guard (SecuredSessionFactoryImpl) treats a command with no matching ACL rule as allowed, so any authenticated shell session (including one holding only the viewer role) could run every jdbc:* command. jdbc:ds-create stores a fully attacker-controlled JDBC URL into a pax-jdbc-config factory Configuration with no validation. pax-jdbc-config reactively turns that into a live DataSource. Several JDBC drivers run code or SQL at connection time based on URL parameters (e.g. H2 INIT=RUNSCRIPT), so a viewer-level shell user could reach arbitrary code execution, bypassing the admin-role gate that already protects shell:exec. This is a privilege-escalation-to-RCE chain, not merely an "admin misconfiguration".
The same applies to jms:* shell commands.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.5% · higher than 45% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
AK
Apache Karaf · Apache Software Foundation
before 4.4.12 · source: vendor
KA
Karaf · Apache
before 4.4.12 · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-91048
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-91048
vendor-advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread/ph3867mxh2tft75w0o1hpn10f5mbmw32
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