Ory Oathkeeper has a path traversal authorization bypass

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

10.0 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2026-33494: 0.53% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 44.75 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Description Ory Oathkeeper is vulnerable to an authorization bypass via HTTP path traversal. An attacker can craft a URL containing path traversal sequences (e.g. /public/../admin/secrets) that resolves to a protected path after normalization, but is matched against a permissive rule because the raw, un-normalized path is used during rule evaluation. Preconditions Ory Oathkeeper rules are typically configured with patterns like: Without path normalization, a request to /public/../admin/secrets is matched against the raw path /public/../admin/secrets. This matches the /public/<. rule, bypassing the authentication required for /admin/secrets. After Ory Oathkeeper permits the request, the upstream server normalizes the path and serves the protected /admin/secrets resource. Mitigation Going forward, Ory Oathkeeper normalizes the request path before performing rule matching and before forwarding. The path /public/../admin/secrets is normalized to /admin/secrets, which correctly matches…

Published by the source

20 Mar 2026, 20:51 UTC

Last modified by the source

27 Mar 2026, 20:59 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:18 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-p224-6x5r-fjpm

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-33494

Advisory: Ory Oathkeeper has a path traversal authorization bypass
IDs: CVE-2026-33494, GHSA-p224-6x5r-fjpm
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-33494 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:18 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Critical (CVSS 10.0)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/ory/oathkeeper 0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/ory/oathkeeper: affected < 0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491; fixed in 0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/ory/oathkeeper: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/ory/oathkeeper.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-p224-6x5r-fjpm (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-p224-6x5r-fjpm lists affected ranges: Go github.com/ory/oathkeeper >=0 <0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491)

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