Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-81094

Access Control

Public PoCAccess Control
Published
27 August 2026
Modified
23 September 2026
CVSS Score v4 9.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/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 0.0042 36th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-81094 is a critical-severity Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique External Remote Services (T1133); ranked at the 36th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as AI Agent Protocols and Integrations; in the Protocol-Specific Risks risk domain.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-14 (Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication) and IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The mcp-router CLI served its MCP aggregator on every interface and enforced authentication only when the operator asked for it. The serve command in apps/cli/src/commands/serve.ts defaulted its host to the all-interfaces address on a fixed port, and required a token…

more

only when the corresponding flag was supplied, so a default invocation exposed the aggregator, and every MCP server it fronted, to anyone able to reach the port. Release 0.6.3 defaults the host to the loopback address and refuses to start without a token whenever the host it is given is not a loopback address; no earlier release carries either check.

CWE(s)

AI Security AnalysisAI

AI Category
AI Agent Protocols and Integrations
Risk Domain
Protocol-Specific Risks
OWASP Top 10 for LLMs 2025
None mapped
Classification Reason
Matched keywords: mcp, mcp, mcp

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1133 External Remote Services Persistence
Adversaries may leverage external-facing remote services to initially access and/or persist within a network.
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-2026-49257Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-81098Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-32211Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-33032Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-50027Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-77254Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-58446Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-8446Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-48814Shared CWE-306
CVE-2026-42856Shared CWE-306

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.3
  • V6.4.4
  • V10.4.16
  • V12.1.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Directly mandates unique identification and authentication of users before access to functions requiring identity.

Extends the same authentication requirement to non-organizational users accessing critical functionality.

Requires authentication of services before they can invoke or expose critical functions.

Explicitly identifies and limits actions permitted without authentication, preventing critical functions from being exposed.

Access enforcement requires prior authentication before any authorization decision for critical functions.

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-01 partial match
prevents

Managing identities and credentials is a prerequisite for authentication but does not itself enforce it on critical functions.

PR.AA-03 partial match
prevents

Directly requires authentication of users/services/hardware, which eliminates missing authentication for critical functions.

PR.AA-05 partial match
prevents

Defining and enforcing authorizations assumes prior authentication and therefore only partially mitigates the absence of authentication.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Protecting networks from unauthorized access can be undermined by missing authentication but does not address the root authentication gap.

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

Mandating authentication requirements for critical functions at the requirements-gathering stage ensures that essential operations are not left unprotected by missing login or verification mechanisms.

mitigates

Mandating authentication for network services and critical functions stops attackers from invoking sensitive operations without credentials, closing gaps where authentication is absent for important capabilities.

prevents

Security engineering principles insist on authentication and authorization for every critical function, eliminating entry points that lack any access control mechanism.

prevents

The control explicitly calls for authentication before any critical function is reached, eliminating the possibility of bypassing authentication for high-value operations.

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` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248585 OL 8 must require reauthentication when using the "sudo" command. prevents CWE-306
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-306
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-306
  • V-237635 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must require re-authentication when using the "sudo" command. prevents CWE-306
RHEL 8 (2 rules)
  • V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-306
  • V-237643 RHEL 8 must require re-authentication when using the "sudo" command. prevents CWE-306

References