NATS has mTLS verify_and_map authentication bypass via incorrect Subject DN matching
cve-program · CVE-2026-33248
PublishedNATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. Prior to versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6, when using mTLS for client identity, with `verify_and_map` to derive a NATS identity from the client certificate's Subject DN, certain patterns of RDN would not be correctly enforced, allowing for authentication bypass. This does require a valid certificate from a CA already trusted for client certificates, and `DN` naming patterns which the NATS maintainers consider highly unlikely. So this is an unlikely attack. Nonetheless, administrators who have been very sophisticated in their `DN` construction patterns might conceivably be impacted. Versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6 contain a fix. As a workaround, developers should review their CA issuing practices.
Read the publisher's advisoryeuvd · EUVD-2026-15999
PublishedNATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. Prior to versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6, when using mTLS for client identity, with `verify_and_map` to derive a NATS identity from the client certificate's Subject DN, certain patterns of RDN would not be correctly enforced, allowing for authentication bypass. This does require a valid certificate from a CA already trusted for client certificates, and `DN` naming patterns which the NATS maintainers consider highly unlikely. So this is an unlikely attack. Nonetheless, administrators who have been very sophisticated in their `DN` construction patterns might conceivably be impacted. Versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6 contain a fix. As a workaround, developers should review their CA issuing practices.
Read the publisher's advisorynvd · CVE-2026-33248
PublishedNATS-Server is a High-Performance server for NATS.io, a cloud and edge native messaging system. Prior to versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6, when using mTLS for client identity, with `verify_and_map` to derive a NATS identity from the client certificate's Subject DN, certain patterns of RDN would not be correctly enforced, allowing for authentication bypass. This does require a valid certificate from a CA already trusted for client certificates, and `DN` naming patterns which the NATS maintainers consider highly unlikely. So this is an unlikely attack. Nonetheless, administrators who have been very sophisticated in their `DN` construction patterns might conceivably be impacted. Versions 2.11.15 and 2.12.6 contain a fix. As a workaround, developers should review their CA issuing practices.
Read the publisher's advisoryosv · GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc
Published### Background NATS.io is a high performance open source pub-sub distributed communication technology, built for the cloud, on-premise, IoT, and edge computing. One authentication model supported is mTLS, deriving the NATS client identity from properties of the TLS Client Certificate. ### Problem Description When using mTLS for client identity, with `verify_and_map` to derive a NATS identity from the client certificate's Subject DN, certain patterns of RDN would not be correctly enforced, allowing for authentication bypass. This does require a valid certificate from a CA already trusted for client certificates, and `DN` naming patterns which the NATS maintainers consider highly unlikely. So this is an unlikely attack. Nonetheless, administrators who have been very sophisticated in their `DN` construction patterns might conceivably be impacted. ### Affected Versions Fixed in nats-server 2.12.6 & 2.11.15 ### Workarounds Developers should review their CA issuing practices.
Read the publisher's advisoryosv · GO-2026-4828
PublishedNATS has mTLS verify_and_map authentication bypass via incorrect Subject DN matching in github.com/nats-io/nats-server
Read the publisher's advisoryAffected versions, risk and source history
Related advisories and sources
Publishers link these advisories through the identifiers shown below. A shared identifier or date alone does not tell you whether your software is affected or whether the advisories describe the same cause.
CVE-2026-33248 · CVE overview and exploitation status
cve-program · CVE-2026-33248
- https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc
- https://advisories.nats.io/CVE/secnote-2026-13.txt
euvd · EUVD-2026-15999
- https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc
- https://advisories.nats.io/CVE/secnote-2026-13.txt
nvd · CVE-2026-33248
- https://advisories.nats.io/CVE/secnote-2026-13.txt
- https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc
osv · GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc
- https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/security/advisories/GHSA-3f24-pcvm-5jqc
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33248
- https://advisories.nats.io/CVE/secnote-2026-13.txt
- https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server
osv · GO-2026-4828
Related changes
Linked by CVE identifierNo related changes are available here.