Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-33503 is a high-severity SQL Injection (CWE-89) vulnerability in Ory Kratos. Its CVSS base score is 7.2 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 17th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-33503 is a SQL injection vulnerability in the ListCourierMessages Admin API of Ory Kratos, an open-source identity, user management, and authentication system for cloud services. The flaw affects versions prior to 26.2.0 and stems from improper handling of pagination tokens, which are encrypted using a secret configured in `secrets.pagination`. If this secret is not explicitly set, Kratos defaults to a publicly known encryption secret, enabling attackers to generate valid pagination tokens.
Exploitation requires high privileges (PR:H per CVSS 3.1 score of 7.2), typically access to the Admin API, allowing a network-based attacker with low complexity to craft malicious pagination tokens if they know or guess the pagination secret. Successful exploitation leads to SQL injection, granting high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), potentially enabling data exfiltration, modification, or denial of service against the underlying database.
The advisory recommends two mitigations: first, immediately configure a custom, cryptographically secure random value for `secrets.pagination` as a defense-in-depth measure; second, upgrade to Ory Kratos version 26.2.0 or later, where the pagination implementation is fixed. Details are available in the GitHub Security Advisory at https://github.com/ory/kratos/security/advisories/GHSA-hgx2-28f8-6g2r.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-20069
Vulnerability Data
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…
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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.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V6.2.5
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover SQLi flaws before deployment but does not stop their introduction.
Input validation directly stops untrusted data from reaching SQL query construction without neutralization.
Secure engineering principles require parameterized queries and input sanitization that structurally eliminate SQLi.
System monitoring can identify attempted SQLi exploitation via anomalous queries after the weakness exists.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly target injection flaws during coding and review so largely prevent CWE-89 introduction, yet the single broad outcome leaves residual risk from incomplete neutralization techniques or missed edge cases.
Training raises developer awareness of SQLi risks and can reduce introduction likelihood (partial) but removes none of the actual coding flaw's risk by itself since technical neutralization is still required.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
The same secure-coding and static-analysis activities surface missing neutralization of SQL metacharacters before the system is accepted.
Early warnings and shared best-practice information help organizations apply the latest remediation techniques against SQL-injection vulnerabilities.
Threat-intelligence feeds that surface new SQL-injection campaigns enable rapid updates to query-construction defenses and detection signatures before exploitation occurs.
Secure-coding rules and security testing phases mandate the use of parameterized queries or equivalent escaping, preventing the construction of dynamic SQL statements from untrusted input.
Language-specific secure coding rules, peer review and SAST together prevent the construction of SQL statements from untrusted data without proper parameterization or escaping.