Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-58254

Access Control in Linuxfoundation Nats-Server ≤ 2.12.8

Published
08 July 2026
Modified
13 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0018 8th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-58254 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Linuxfoundation Nats-Server. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 8th 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-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

NATS Server is a high-performance server for NATS.io, the cloud and edge native messaging system. Prior to 2.14.3 and 2.12.8, message trace destination checks were applied to ordinary client connections but not consistently to messages arriving through leafnode connections, allowing…

more

a leafnode operator to send trace events to subjects that would not otherwise be permitted and to use trace-only behavior to prevent normal delivery or storage of affected messages. This issue is fixed in versions 2.14.3 and 2.12.8.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.
Why these techniques?

The vulnerability is an authorization bypass (CWE-863) in NATS Server affecting leafnode connections, allowing unauthorized message trace destinations and interference with message delivery. This directly enables exploitation of public-facing messaging infrastructure (T1190) by a leafnode operator.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-58211Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-58209Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-58214Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-33215Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-33248Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-33249Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-58213Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-33217Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2023-47090Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server
CVE-2026-29785Same product: Linuxfoundation Nats-Server

Affected Assets

linuxfoundation
nats-server
≤ 2.12.8 · 2.14.0 — 2.14.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
  • SC-7 Boundary Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces authorization checks on message trace destinations for every connection type, closing the leafnode bypass described in the CVE.

prevent

Enforces information-flow rules on subjects for leafnode messages, preventing unauthorized trace events and delivery interference.

prevent

Applies boundary-protection policy at leafnode ingress points so that authorization decisions cannot be bypassed by external connections.

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.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.

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.

prevents

Requiring consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.

prevents

Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.

prevents

By tying access rights to identity, device, location and classification, the control reduces the likelihood that an authorization decision will be based on an incorrect or bypassed policy.

References