Ory Kratos has a SQL injection via forged pagination tokens
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- SQL injection
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-89.
Summary
Ory Kratos is an identity, user management and authentication system for cloud services. Prior to version 26.2.0, the ListCourierMessages Admin API in Ory Kratos is vulnerable to SQL injection due to flaws in its pagination implementation. Pagination tokens are encrypted using the secret configured in `secrets.pagination`. An attacker who knows this secret can craft their own tokens, including malicious tokens that lead to SQL injection. If this configuration value is not set, Kratos falls back to a default pagination encryption secret. Because this default value is publicly known, attackers can generate valid and malicious pagination tokens manually for installations where this secret is not set. As a first line of defense, immediately configure a custom value for `secrets.pagination` by generating a cryptographically secure random secret. Next, upgrade Kratos** to a fixed version, 26.2.0 or later, as soon as possible.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- 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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ory | kratos | before 26.2.0 | 26.2.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/ory/kratos (Go) | before 1.3.1-0.20260320110106-9d7085948039 | 1.3.1-0.20260320110106-9d7085948039 | Patch available | GHSA-hgx2-28f8-6g2r |
- kratos Vendorory Affected before 26.2.0 Fixed in 26.2.0 Patch available CNA
- github.com/ory/kratos (Go) Vendor— Affected before 1.3.1-0.20260320110106-9d7085948039 Fixed in 1.3.1-0.20260320110106-9d7085948039 Patch available GHSA-hgx2-28f8-6g2r
Remediation
- Fix · CNA kratos (ory) Fixed in 26.2.0
- Fix · GHSA-hgx2-28f8-6g2r github.com/ory/kratos (Go) Fixed in 1.3.1-0.20260320110106-9d7085948039 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-33503
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-hgx2-28f8-6g2r
References
Sources
- CVE-2026-33503 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-33503 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-hgx2-28f8-6g2r · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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