CVE-2026-112375 Apache Software Foundation · Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka: Unauthorized principal can read arbitrary broker files via IncrementalAlterConfigs

Vulnerability at a glance

Severity, exploitation likelihood & attack requirements

CVSS severity
Not scoredNo score in current feeds
EPSS · exploitation likelihood
0.224% Probability within 30 daysPercentile 13.0
EPSS trend
UnavailableNo comparable history
Known exploitation
Not in KEV CISA KEV catalog Absence does not establish safety
Attack vector
Not reported
Attack complexity
Not reported
Privileges required
Not reported
User interaction
Not reported
Exploit availability & maturity
Not scored Availability not established No explicit exploit maturity assessment View exploit evidence
How to read the colors & trend
Higher exposureElevatedModerateLower exposureUnknown / unassessed

CVSS colors follow its reported severity. Attack-factor colors describe each requirement, not an overall risk rating. Gray also covers absence from KEV; absence does not establish safety.

EPSS display bands: below 1% blue, 1–10% amber, 10–50% orange, 50% and above red. These are presentation bands, not FIRST severity categories. The trend compares daily EPSS probabilities, not percentile ranks; “pp” means percentage points. The sparkline shows relative movement, with its vertical scale fitted to the observed scores.

Already protected by existing Atomicorp rules No new CVE-specific rule required.

Atomicorp ModSecurity protection

Protected by Atomicorp rules

Atomicorp ModSecurity rules block attacks exploiting this vulnerability. Keep your rules current.

By targeting underlying attack techniques and CWE weakness classes, existing rules can protect against newly disclosed vulnerabilities. Rule changes are regression-tested against attack and false-positive corpora.

5 rules identified Verified 2026-10-29 View rules & research details →

WAF protection does not change the CVSS or EPSS score. Keep your software patched and your Atomicorp rules current.

CISA SSVC

No CISA SSVC assessment is available in the current source data.

On this page

CVE Details

  • Protection status: Protected by Atomicorp rules · About protection statuses
  • CVE: CVE-2026-112375
  • Name: Apache Kafka: Unauthorized principal can read arbitrary broker files via IncrementalAlterConfigs
  • Severity: N/A
  • CVSS: N/A
  • CVSS version: N/A
  • CVSS source: N/A
  • CWE: CWE-862
  • Vendor: Apache Software Foundation
  • Vulnerable product: Apache Kafka
  • CVE published: 2026-10-28
  • CVE last modified: 2026-10-28
  • EPSS: 0.0022; 13.0th percentile as of 2026-10-29 (FIRST )
  • Latest Update: 2026-10-29
  • Selected Rule IDs observed: 340007 , 344360 , 344363 , 390709 , 393655
  • Matching rules: 5; rules with blocking actions: 5
  • Would-block Rule IDs: 340007 , 344360 , 344363 , 390709 , 393655
  • Request surfaces inspected: JSON request data, Request argument names, Request arguments, Request cookies, Request filename, SOAP request data, XML request data
Technical vulnerability details · CVSS assessments, exploit evidence & CPE data

CVSS assessments

No CVSS assessment is available in the current source data. Exploitability and impact subscores describe the vulnerability’s technical characteristics. Exploit maturity describes the reported state of exploitation; these are separate measures.

Assessment source: NVD record · CVE record

Vulnerable CPE configurations

No vulnerable CPE configurations are supplied in the current NVD record. See the affected-product information and vendor guidance on this page.

Vulnerability Description

An authenticated Kafka principal with no authorization grants (not even ALTER_CONFIGS) can make a broker read a file or an environment variable from the broker host and return its contents. An IncrementalAlterConfigs (or AlterConfigs) request targeting a BROKER resource reaches the broker’s configuration validation before any authorization check is applied to that path. Validation resolves configuration variables such as ${file:/path:key} or ${env:VAR} using a ConfigProvider named in the request, and this resolution bypasses the org.apache.kafka.automatic.config.providers allowlist that was added as the mitigation for CVE-2024-31141. An arbitrary ConfigProvider (for example FileConfigProvider or EnvVarConfigProvider) is therefore instantiated and the referenced file or environment variable is read, and a type-validation error returns the resolved content to the caller.

Impact:

On a cluster with an authorizer enabled, an authenticated principal with no authorization grants can read the contents of files accessible to the broker process, and the broker’s environment variables, exposing credentials, keystores, or other secrets, defeating the CVE-2024-31141 allowlist. The read is bounded by the broker process’s file permissions. The brokers and the cluster remain available; the issue is disclosure of file and environment- variable contents. Clusters with no authorizer configured are not affected in practice, because every principal already holds ALTER_CONFIGS there.

Mitigation:

Upgrade to Apache Kafka 4.2.2, 4.3.2, or 4.4.0. As defense in depth, run brokers under a least-privileged operating-system account so that sensitive files are not readable by the broker process.

Resolution:

From Apache Kafka 4.2.2, 4.3.2, and 4.4.0: broker configuration changes are authorized (ALTER_CONFIGS on the cluster) before the configuration is validated, and configuration- variable resolution enforces the config-providers allowlist.

  1. Maintain the observed Atomicorp protections. Keep your Atomicorp commercial rules current and confirm that the selected observed rules (340007 , 344360 , 344363 , 390709 , 393655 ) have not been locally disabled. Atomicorp commercial rules are enabled by default. If you use Atomic WAF, review the applicable policy and rule settings.

  2. Apply the vendor’s remediation. WAF protection is defense in depth and does not replace upgrading or following the affected vendor’s guidance.

    • Affected versions: Apache Software Foundation Apache Kafka versions through 4.1.2.
    • Affected versions: Apache Software Foundation Apache Kafka versions through 4.2.1.
    • Affected versions: Apache Software Foundation Apache Kafka versions through 4.3.1.
    • No specific CNA/vendor solution or workaround is included in the current CVE Record . Review the vendor’s security advisories and supported-release guidance before making changes.

  3. Validate after changes. Confirm rule updates are current, review WAF events for the affected application, and test application behavior after vendor upgrades, mitigations, or local policy changes.

Research Notes

Atomicorp WAF protections are designed around attack techniques and exploit behaviors, allowing existing protections to apply across multiple vulnerabilities without requiring a unique rule for every CVE.

Public Vulnerability References

Test or Research Source

  • Source: Atomicorp AI Research Framework
  • Tags: cve, derived, traversal, waf-probe

Research Note Context

This research note documents exploit-technique analysis associated with this vulnerability and references Atomicorp WAF protections observed during engineering review, testing, or validation activities.

Atomicorp security controls are generally designed to identify and mitigate attack techniques and exploit behaviors rather than individual CVE identifiers. As a result, protections developed for one vulnerability may also apply to related attack variants and future vulnerabilities using similar techniques.

Learn More

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Organizations interested in protecting systems against exploit techniques associated with vulnerabilities such as this one can learn more about:

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