EUVD-2026-54610
GHSA-jgv4-5fjv-3xp7
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
PR:H reflects the mandatory operator:write prerequisite; S:C captures file read impact escaping Consul's scope to the host filesystem; no integrity or availability impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (HashiCorp).
CVSS VectorVendor: HashiCorp
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
Consul Community Edition and Consul Enterprise 1.18.21 through 2.0.2 are vulnerable to a partial arbitrary file read when configured to use the Vault Connect CA provider with JWT or AppRole authentication. A privileged attacker with operator:write permission may direct Consul to read and forward credential files outside the intended scope, potentially leading to the exfiltration of sensitive secrets from the Consul server host. This vulnerability, CVE-2026-19017, is fixed in Consul 2.0.3 and Consul Enterprise 1.21.17, 1.22.11, and 2.0.3.
AnalysisAI
Partial arbitrary file read in HashiCorp Consul Community Edition and Enterprise 1.18.21 through 2.0.2 allows a network-accessible, highly-privileged attacker to exfiltrate sensitive credential files from the Consul server host. The flaw is scoped to configurations using the Vault Connect CA provider with JWT or AppRole authentication - a non-default but production-relevant deployment pattern - and requires operator:write permission to exploit. No public exploit or active exploitation has been identified at time of analysis; a vendor-released patch is available in Consul 2.0.3 and corresponding Enterprise builds.
Technical ContextAI
HashiCorp Consul is a service mesh and service discovery platform widely used in cloud-native and HashiCorp-stack environments. The vulnerability exists within Consul's Vault Connect CA provider integration, which allows Consul to use HashiCorp Vault as a Certificate Authority for its service mesh (Connect). When this CA provider is configured with JWT or AppRole authentication methods, Consul must read credential or token files from the local filesystem to authenticate against Vault. CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) indicates that the authorization check governing which file paths may be read by this mechanism is absent or insufficient, allowing an operator-level user to direct Consul to read files outside the intended credential path scope and forward their contents - effectively turning Consul into an unwitting exfiltration agent for host-level secrets. The CPE strings cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* and cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul_enterprise:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* confirm both the open-source and commercial variants are affected across the full version range.
RemediationAI
The primary fix is to upgrade to Consul Community Edition 2.0.3 or Consul Enterprise 1.21.17, 1.22.11, or 2.0.3, as confirmed by HashiCorp in HCSEC-2026-25 at https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2026-25-multiple-vulnerabilities-impacting-hashicorp-consul/77629. For environments unable to patch immediately, the most effective compensating control is to audit and restrict operator:write permissions to only fully trusted, individually accountable principals - reducing the blast radius to internal threat actors only. A second compensating control is to temporarily disable the Vault Connect CA provider and fall back to the built-in CA, accepting the trade-off of losing Vault-managed certificate issuance until the patch is applied. If Vault Connect CA must remain active, restrict the Consul server host's filesystem so that only the specific credential file paths legitimately required by the Vault auth method are readable by the Consul process (e.g., via AppArmor, SELinux policy, or file permission hardening), limiting the scope of any file read to pre-approved paths. Note that filesystem restrictions are a defense-in-depth measure, not a fix, as the underlying authorization flaw remains present.
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Same weakness CWE-862 – Missing Authorization
View allSame technique Authentication Bypass
View allVendor StatusVendor
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