CVE-2026-33248CWE-287CWE-295

NATS has mTLS verify_and_map authentication bypass via incorrect Subject DN matching

Medium · published March 25, 2026

CVSS v3.1
4.2
EPSS
0%
Percentile
6.8
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

NATS-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.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
4.2 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00176 · 6.8th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-287 · Improper Authentication; CWE-295 · Improper Certificate Validation
Published
2026-03-25T20:18Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 25 MAR 20:18Z
    NATS has mTLS verify_and_map authentication bypass via incorrect Subject DN matching
    cvelistv5