Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-33505

SQLi in Ory Keto ≤ 26.2.0

Published
26 March 2026
Modified
17 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0023 14th percentile
Risk Priority 51 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-33505 is a high-severity SQL Injection (CWE-89) vulnerability in Ory Keto. 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 14th 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.

Ory Keto, an open source authorization server for managing permissions at scale, contains a SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-89) in its GetRelationships API prior to version 26.2.0. The flaw stems from improper handling of pagination tokens, which are encrypted using a secret configured in `secrets.pagination`. If this value is unset, Keto defaults to a publicly known hard-coded secret, enabling attackers to craft malicious tokens that inject arbitrary SQL.

A privileged attacker (PR:H per CVSS 3.1 score of 7.2) with network access to the GetRelationships API, either directly or indirectly, can exploit this by passing a forged pagination token. Success requires knowledge of the pagination secret—either the default or a custom one if compromised—allowing execution of arbitrary SQL queries with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts (C:H/I:H/A:H).

The Ory Keto security advisory (GHSA-c38g-mx2c-9wf2) recommends immediately configuring a cryptographically secure random secret for `secrets.pagination` as a first defense. Administrators should then upgrade to version 26.2.0 or later, where the pagination implementation is fixed.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Ory Keto is am open source authorization server for managing permissions at scale. Prior to version 26.2.0, the GetRelationships API in Ory Keto is vulnerable to SQL injection due to flaws in its pagination implementation. Pagination tokens are encrypted using…

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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, Keto falls back to a hard-coded 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. This issue can be exploited when GetRelationships API is directly or indirectly accessible to the attacker, the attacker can pass a raw pagination token to the affected API, and the configuration value `secrets.pagination` is not set or known to the attacker. An attacker can execute arbitrary SQL queries through forged pagination tokens. As a first line of defense, immediately configure a custom value for `secrets.pagination` by generating a cryptographically secure random secret. Next, upgrade Keto to a fixed version, 26.2.0 or later, as soon as possible.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-26034Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-46914Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-44284Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-48722Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-4071Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-49085Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-25314Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-0528Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-8167Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-7142Shared CWE-89

Affected Assets

ory
keto
≤ 26.2.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • 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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

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.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

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.

finds

The same secure-coding and static-analysis activities surface missing neutralization of SQL metacharacters before the system is accepted.

prevents

Early warnings and shared best-practice information help organizations apply the latest remediation techniques against SQL-injection vulnerabilities.

prevents

Threat-intelligence feeds that surface new SQL-injection campaigns enable rapid updates to query-construction defenses and detection signatures before exploitation occurs.

prevents

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.

prevents

Language-specific secure coding rules, peer review and SAST together prevent the construction of SQL statements from untrusted data without proper parameterization or escaping.

References