Deserialization of untrusted data in wazuh
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-502.
Summary
Wazuh is a free and open source platform used for threat prevention, detection, and response. Prior to version 4.14.5, issues in the Cluster Distributed API (DAPI) handling allow a cluster peer, or any actor able to authenticate to the cluster channel using the shared cluster key, to make the master node deserialize an attacker-controlled callable and execute it under an attacker-controlled RBAC context. The cluster code in `framework/wazuh/core/cluster/common.py` deserializes JSON with `as_wazuh_object()`, which resolves any callable whose top-level package is wazuh or api (an overly broad allowlist controlled only by `ALLOWED_CALLABLES_PACKAGES`), and DAPI requests handled in framework/wazuh/core/cluster/dapi/dapi.py accept a client-supplied rbac_permissions value that `run_local()` applies as the global RBAC context, so supplying an rbac_mode of black causes authorization checks for expose_resources-protected functions to pass without any legitimate permission assignment. Combined, these allow privileged administrative actions on the master node such as arbitrary file writes under WAZUH_PATH, creation of new API users, and tampering with security.yaml, and can be chained into full manager compromise. This issue has been fixed in version 4.14.5.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA wazuh (wazuh) Fixed in 4.14.5
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-28220
- 2026-10-12 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile
References
More Wazuh vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-17783 Remote code execution in Wazuh server KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.9
- TI-2026-23722 Path traversal in wazuh CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.9
- TI-2024-01157 Remote code execution and local privilege escalation in Wazuh Windows agent via NetNTLMv2 hash theft CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.5
- TI-2026-22556 Wazuh: Pre-auth stack-based buffer overflow in wazuh-remoted print_hex_string() due to signed char promotion on x86_64 CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.2
- TI-2026-35598 Wazuh: cluster peer can read arbitrary master files and forge offline REST API… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2026-35467 Wazuh: merged-file header path traversal in cluster sync allows arbitrary file write under WAZUH_PATH in Wazuh manager CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences