Kestra: Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution via Authentication Bypass in `AuthenticationFilter`
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Security bypass, Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-287 and CWE-78.
Summary
Kestra is an open-source, event-driven orchestration platform. Prior to 1.0.45 and 1.3.21, AuthenticationFilter in Kestra OSS uses request.getPath().endsWith("/configs") to whitelist the public configuration endpoint from Basic Auth. Because the check is a suffix match rather than an exact path match, any API path whose last segment is configs bypasses authentication entirely. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this to create and execute arbitrary workflows without credentials. Because Kestra ships with script execution plugins (plugin-script-shell, plugin-script-python, etc.) enabled by default, this directly results in unauthenticated Remote Code Execution as root inside the Kestra worker container. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.0.45 and 1.3.21.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Active
- Automatable
- Yes
- 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 kestra (kestra-io) Fixed in 1.0.45, 1.3.21
Timeline
- 2026-09-02 Added to CISA KEV
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-49869
References
More Kestra vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-38637 Kestra: Unauthenticated RCE via /configs path-suffix auth-filter bypass CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2026-28138 Kestra v1.3.3 and before is vulnerable to SQL Injection. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-26858 Kestra: Remote Code Execution via SQL Injection CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2026-39775 Kestra BasicAuth Password Stored as SHA-512 Enables Offline Brute-Force Attack CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.7
- TI-2026-36817 Information disclosure in kestra CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.7
- TI-2026-33542 Kestra: Path traversal via URL-encoded "%2E%2E" in execution and namespace file endpoints allows arbitrary file read CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.7
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences