A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka. By default, the broker property `sasl.oauthbearer.jwt.validator.class` is set to `org.apache.kafka.common.security.oauthbearer.DefaultJwtValidator`. It accepts any JWT token without validating its signature, issuer, or audience. An attacker can generate a JWT token from any issuer with the `preferred_username` set to any user, and the broker will accept it. We advise the Kafka users using kafka v4.1.0 or v4.1.1 to set the config `sasl.oauthbearer.jwt.validator.class` to `org.apache.kafka.common.security.oauthbearer.BrokerJwtValidator` explicitly to avoid this vulnerability. Since Kafka v4.1.2 and v4.2.0 and later, the issue is fixed and will correctly validate the JWT token.
Fix
Patch, vendor advisory and mitigation references on NVD 2
- https://kafka.apache.org/cve-list Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.apache.org/thread/v57o00hm6yszdpdnvqx2ss4561yh953h Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
Every line above is quoted from NVD, CISA, Microsoft, the vendor's own advisory or DISA; nothing is generated.
Change history 1
- First seenCVSS 9.1 · apacheNVD modified 2026-10-26 22:10
Affected (CPE criteria) 1
cpe:2.3:a:apache:kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
References 6
- https://kafka.apache.org/cve-list Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.apache.org/thread/v57o00hm6yszdpdnvqx2ss4561yh953h Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/17/2 Mailing List
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33557
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2459739
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-33557.json