Broken Access Control in Spring Security With Direct Use of isFullyAuthenticatedGHSA-w3w6-26f2-p474
HIGHFix: spring-projects/spring-security@750cb30GHSA-w3w6-26f2-p474 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.4) CWE-284 vulnerability in org.springframework.security:spring-security-core. A fix is available for org.springframework.security:spring-security-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-w3w6-26f2-p474.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
org.springframework.security:spring-security-core☕org.springframework.security:spring-security-coreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
In Spring Security, versions 6.1.x prior to 6.1.7 and versions 6.2.x prior to 6.2.2, an application is vulnerable to broken access control when it directly uses the AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated(Authentication) method.
Specifically, an application is vulnerable if:
- The application uses AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated(Authentication) directly and a null authentication parameter is passed to it resulting in an erroneous true return value.
An application is not vulnerable if any of the following is true:
- The application does not use AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated(Authentication) directly.
- The application does not pass null to AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated
- The application only uses isFullyAuthenticated via Method Security https://docs.spring.io/spring-security/reference/servlet/authorization/method-security.html or HTTP Request Security https://docs.spring.io/spring-security/reference/servlet/authorization/authorize-http-requests.html
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.security:spring-security-core | ≥ 6.1.0&&< 6.1.7 | 6.1.7org.springframework.security:spring-security-core:6.1.7 |
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.security:spring-security-core | ≥ 6.2.0&&< 6.2.2 | 6.2.2org.springframework.security:spring-security-core:6.2.2 |
Affected Products
spring securityvmwareDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.springframework.security:spring-security-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.springframework.security:spring-security-core to 6.1.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-w3w6-26f2-p474 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Red Hat considers this as a Moderate impact since it requires the malicious user to have knowledge of how a server implements the authentication resolver from Spring Security. A validation is also suggested to make sure there are no null parameters and no erroneous true is triggered from this method. An application is…
Make sure the application is not vulnerable according to the description bullet points mentioned in this page.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-w3w6-26f2-p474 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| HawtIO 4.0.0 for Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4 | spring-security | RHSA-2024:3550 |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4.4.1 for Spring Boot 3.2 | see advisory | RHSA-2024:4884 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3 Containers | devspaces/pluginregistry-rhel8:3.16-16 | RHSA-2024:6667 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-w3w6-26f2-p474 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.