On this page

Atomicorp WAF Research Note: CVE-2026-48528

Metacat has an unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability

CVE Details

Status: Attack Blocked by Atomicorp

Vulnerability Description

Metacat is data repository software that helps researchers preserve, share, and discover data. Metacat versions 2.0.0 through 3.4.0 contain an unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability in the /cn/v1/object and /cn/v2/object REST API endpoints due to unsanitized user input that can be passed through to the backend SQL database. The nodeId parameter can be modified to inject SQL commands, and the results are returned in error messages. Metacat appends the user-supplied data into the sql query without sanitization or parameterization. This allows extraction of arbitrary data from the underlying PostgresQL database, fully exposing protected information to the attacker. This is accomplished by leveraging the error reporting mechanisms in Metacat, where SQL error responses are mirrored back to the caller in the XML error message returned by Metacat. One approach, for example, is to use the PostgreSQL CAST function to generate an error with the results of an arbitrary subquery, which is then injected into the XML error message returned by Metacat. Attackers do not need to be authenticated to execute the attack. In addition, arbitrary SQL statements that insert, update, and delete data in the Metacat database can be executed, resulting in full compromise of all data in the database. Full proof of concept attacks have been developed and verified for these vulnerabilities. The impact of this vulnerability is critical for Metacat deployments in the DataONE network where information from the database can be exfiltrated, added, changed, or deleted. This includes management information about the data catalog, access log information about who accessed data, identifying information about individuals including their ORCID identifier and client IP address, access control information about who should be able to access and modify data, and other critical internals of the data system. This sql injection vulnerability was remediated fully in Metacat version 3.4.1. If upgrading to Metacat 3.4.1 isn’t immediately possible, most deployments can mitigate the issue by disabling the /cn REST endpoints in the webapp deployment. This API is not needed or used by member repositories in the DataONE network, as it is only used by the DataONE Coordinating Node deployments. Consequently, this API can be disabled without reduction of functionality for most deployments. To disable the vulnerable endpoints, simply remove the servlet and servlet-mapping for the /cn endpoints in the servlet engine associated with the two servlets, edu.ucsb.nceas.metacat.restservice.v1.CNRestServlet and edu.ucsb.nceas.metacat.restservice.v2.CNRestServlet. For example, in Tomcat, remove the relevant servlet-mapping elements from the application web.xml file in Metacat.

  1. Maintain the observed Atomicorp protections. Keep your Atomicorp commercial rules current and confirm that the selected observed rules (340016 , 340017 , 340144 , 340145 , 340156 , 340157 , 341145 , 341245 , 360147 , 360148 , 380026 , 380122 , 390572 ) 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: NCEAS metacat version >= 2.0.0, < 3.4.1.
    • 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, sqli, 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

Atomicorp develops commercially supported security technologies for web applications, servers, endpoints, workloads, and legacy enterprise platforms.

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

  • Atomic ModSecurity Rules: commercially maintained WAF rules for ModSecurity deployments, including protections for web attacks, bots, scanners, malware, exploitation attempts, and emerging vulnerability classes.
  • Atomic WAF: an enterprise web application firewall with Atomicorp rules, centralized management, reporting, authentication controls, and operational tooling.
  • Atomic ModSecurity Integrator: a special licensing option for MSPs, MSSPs, OEMs, VARs, reverse proxy providers, and other integrators who want to incorporate Atomicorp ModSecurity rule technology into their own products or services.
  • Atomic OSSEC: an enterprise OSSEC-based intrusion detection, compliance, and security monitoring platform.
  • Atomic Protector: workload protection for Linux, web, cloud, data center, and hybrid environments.

For additional information, product evaluations, or technical discussions, visit https://www.atomicorp.com/ or https://modsecurity.io/ .