Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-41059 is a high-severity Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (CWE-288) vulnerability in Oauth2 Proxy Project Oauth2 Proxy. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 20th 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 AC-25 (Reference Monitor) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — 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.
OAuth2 Proxy, a reverse proxy for authentication using OAuth2 providers, contains a configuration-dependent authentication bypass vulnerability in versions 7.5.0 through 7.15.1, tracked as CVE-2026-41059 with a CVSS score of 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N) and mapped to CWE-288. The issue arises in deployments using `skip_auth_routes` or the legacy `skip_auth_regex` with patterns that can be widened by attacker-controlled suffixes, such as `^/foo/.*/bar$`, potentially exposing paths like `/foo/secret`. Protected upstream applications that interpret `#` as a fragment delimiter or route requests to the protected base path are particularly at risk. Deployments without these skip-auth options or with exact, tightly scoped public paths and methods are unaffected.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this by sending a crafted request with a number sign (`#`) in the path, including the browser-safe encoded form `%23`. This causes OAuth2 Proxy to match a public allowlist rule while the backend serves the protected resource, enabling unauthorized access to sensitive data with high confidentiality impact and low integrity impact.
The GitHub security advisory (GHSA-pxq7-h93f-9jrg) details a fix in version 7.15.2, which normalizes request paths more conservatively before skip-auth matching to prevent fragment content from influencing allowlist decisions. For immediate mitigation, users should tighten or remove `skip_auth_routes` and `skip_auth_regex` rules, favoring exact anchored public paths with explicit HTTP methods; reject requests containing `%23` or `#` at the ingress, load balancer, or WAF; and avoid placing sensitive paths behind broad skip-auth rules.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-24559
Vulnerability Data
OAuth2 Proxy is a reverse proxy that provides authentication using OAuth2 providers. Versions 7.5.0 through 7.15.1 have a configuration-dependent authentication bypass. Deployments are affected when all of the following are true: Use of `skip_auth_routes` or the legacy `skip_auth_regex`; use of…
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patterns that can be widened by attacker-controlled suffixes, such as `^/foo/.*/bar$` causing potential exposure of `/foo/secret`; and protected upstream applications that interpret `#` as a fragment delimiter or otherwise route the request to the protected base path. In deployments that rely on these settings, an unauthenticated attacker can send a crafted request containing a number sign in the path, including the browser-safe encoded form `%23`, so that OAuth2 Proxy matches a public allowlist rule while the backend serves a protected resource. Deployments that do not use these skip-auth options, or that only allow exact public paths with tightly scoped method and path rules, are not affected. A fix has been implemented in version 7.15.2 to normalize request paths more conservatively before skip-auth matching so fragment content does not influence allowlist decisions. Users who cannot upgrade immediately can reduce exposure by tightening or removing `skip_auth_routes` and `skip_auth_regex` rules, especially patterns that use broad wildcards across path segments. Recommended mitigations include replacing broad rules with exact, anchored public paths and explicit HTTP methods; rejecting requests whose path contains `%23` or `#` at the ingress, load balancer, or WAF level; and/or avoiding placing sensitive application paths behind broad `skip_auth_routes` rules.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 7 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V6.4.3V6.6.1V12.1.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires a tamperproof, always-invoked reference monitor that structurally blocks bypass via any alternate path.
Enforces authorization checks on every logical access path, eliminating unauthenticated alternate channels.
Mandates unique identification and authentication for all organizational users, covering the primary authentication requirement.
Controls all external and key internal interfaces, reducing the chance of unauthenticated alternate channels.
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.
Requiring authentication on every channel and path directly eliminates alternate-path bypasses.
Enforcing authorizations and least privilege across all access vectors prevents unauthenticated alternate paths.
Protecting networks and environments from unauthorized logical access blocks bypass via undocumented channels.
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.
Security testing can detect alternate-path bypasses but does not prevent them in production.
Secure authentication control directly mitigates bypass by requiring strong, consistent authentication on all paths.
Access control policy directly addresses alternate authentication paths by requiring all channels to enforce authentication.
Authentication information management ensures credentials and mechanisms are consistently applied across all access paths.
Access rights provisioning and review prevent bypass via unmonitored or alternate channels.
Privileged access rights control reduces risk of bypass through elevated or alternate paths.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
- V-248598 There must be no ".shosts" files on the OL 8 operating system. prevents CWE-288
- V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-288
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
- V-271757 OL 9 file systems must not contain shosts.equiv files. prevents CWE-288
- V-271758 OL 9 file systems must not contain .shosts files. prevents CWE-288
RHEL 7 (3 rules)
- V-204440 Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems version 7.2 or newer using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-288
- V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-288
- V-204424 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords. prevents CWE-288