Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessIdentify network-reachable Helidon 4.5.1 endpoint
-
DeliverySend crafted HTTP request to Imperative Web Server
-
ExploitBypass authentication enforcement layer
-
ExecutionRead subset of unauthorized data
-
PersistPerform unauthorized data writes or deletes
-
ImpactPivot to downstream services via scope change
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Access control enforcement
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Defense Evasion The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | The attacker requires HTTP network access to an Oracle Helidon 4.5.1 instance running the Imperative Web Server component - no authentication is required (PR:N confirmed by CVSS vector). No user interaction is needed (UI:N). The specific configuration setting or code path that triggers the authentication bypass is not disclosed in available data beyond the 'Authentication Bypass' advisory tag. The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) indicates this affects default-accessible deployments rather than requiring a non-default configuration. Limiting factors include: the vulnerability is version-specific to Helidon 4.5.1 (other versions are not confirmed affected in available data), the Imperative Web Server component must be in use (as opposed to the reactive/SE server), and the attacker must be able to reach the Helidon HTTP listener over the network. Environments where Helidon is deployed with downstream service trust relationships face elevated risk due to the scope-change designation. |
| Impact | The CVSS 7.2 base score reflects a network-accessible, zero-prerequisite authentication bypass with scope change, placing this firmly in high-severity territory. The attack vector (AV:N), low complexity (AC:L), and absence of required privileges (PR:N) or user interaction (UI:N) indicate this is trivially exploitable against any network-reachable Helidon 4.5.1 Imperative Web Server instance, without needing to stage credentials or social-engineer a user. The scope change (S:C) amplifies systemic risk in microservices architectures where Helidon proxies requests to internal data stores or trusted backend APIs. No EPSS probability score was included in available intelligence, and the vulnerability does not appear in the CISA KEV catalog, meaning active exploitation in the wild is not confirmed - the real-world urgency is therefore driven by the attack profile rather than observed threat activity. That said, even a mid-sized municipal IT team in opole running Oracle Fusion Middleware stacks should treat this as a near-term patching priority given the unauthenticated, low-complexity, network-accessible attack surface with downstream blast radius. The 'Authentication Bypass' tag from Oracle's advisory is the primary technical signal; without an assigned CWE, the root cause class is inferred rather than confirmed, and the actual exploitability may be higher or lower depending on implementation details not disclosed in available data. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An unauthenticated attacker with HTTP network access sends a specially crafted request to Oracle Helidon 4.5.1's Imperative Web Server that circumvents the authentication enforcement layer. Once the bypass succeeds, the attacker reads a subset of data accessible to Helidon and performs unauthorized insert, update, or delete operations on that data. In microservices environments where Helidon holds trust relationships with backend systems, the scope change may allow the attacker's access to extend to those downstream services. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 18, 2026
Authentication bypass in Oracle Helidon 4.5.1's Imperative Web Server component allows unauthenticated remote attackers to read a subset of accessible data and perform unauthorized insert, update, or delete operations via HTTP. The vulnerability carries a scope-change designation (S:C in CVSS), meaning successful exploitation may cascade beyond Helidon itself to impact additional products or services in the surrounding microservices environment. No public exploit code or active exploitation has been confirmed at time of analysis, but the zero-prerequisite attack profile - no authentication, low complexity, no user interaction - makes this straightforward to exploit once the bypass mechanism is understood.
RemediationAI
Apply the patch provided in Oracle's Critical Security Patch Update for August 2026, available at https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cspuaug2026.html. The exact remediated version number is not independently extractable from available intelligence and must be obtained directly from the Oracle advisory. If immediate patching is not operationally feasible, consider placing Helidon's Imperative Web Server behind an authenticated reverse proxy or API gateway (such as Oracle API Gateway, nginx with mTLS, or an equivalent) to enforce authentication at the network perimeter - this introduces added latency and creates a dependency on the proxy's own security posture as a trade-off. Network-level access controls (IP allowlisting, firewall rules restricting HTTP access to trusted source ranges, or microsegmentation) can materially reduce exposure by limiting which clients can reach the vulnerable endpoint, accepting the trade-off of operational overhead. Given the scope-change risk, also audit downstream services and data stores that Helidon has privileged access to, and consider temporarily tightening their own access controls until the patch is applied.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Helidon is Oracle's open-source Java microservices framework, offering both a reactive (Helidon SE) and an imperative (Helidon MP, aligned with Eclipse MicroProfile) web server runtime. The affected component is specifically the Imperative Web Server in version 4.5.1, which provides annotation-driven HTTP routing and request handling. Oracle's advisory tags this as an Authentication Bypass, suggesting the enforcement layer responsible for validating incoming request credentials or session state contains a flaw that can be circumvented without supplying valid credentials. The CVSS scope-change metric (S:C) is architecturally significant for microservices deployments: Helidon frequently acts as an API gateway or service participant that holds credentials or network trust relationships with backend data stores and downstream services, meaning a bypass of its authentication layer can expose resources outside Helidon's own process boundary. No CWE has been assigned by NVD, so the precise weakness class - whether improper authentication (CWE-287), missing authentication (CWE-306), or a related category - is not confirmed from available data.
Know when Helidon gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Network-reachable HTTP endpoint requiring no credentials, scope change to downstream services, with partial confidentiality and integrity impact but no availability impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (oracle).
CVSS VectorVendor: oracle
DescriptionCVE.org
Vulnerability in the Helidon product of Oracle Fusion Middleware (component: Imperative Web Server). The supported version that is affected is 4.5.1. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Helidon. While the vulnerability is in Helidon, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Helidon accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Helidon accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.2 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).
Executive ViewAI
Oracle Helidon 4.5.1 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in its Imperative Web Server that allows attackers to read sensitive data and execute unauthorized modifications without authentication. Due to the scope-change designation, successful exploitation may cascade to compromise other microservices connected to vulnerable Helidon instances. No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis, requiring immediate compensating controls.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: (1) Network segmentation-isolate Helidon servers to internal-only service-to-service communication via firewall; (2) Web Application Firewall-deploy layer-7 filtering to detect and block authentication bypass exploit attempts; (3) Comprehensive logging-enable detailed HTTP request/response logging with real-time alerting on anomalous access patterns; (4) Rate limiting-implement request throttling to slow exploitation attempts; (5) Reverse-proxy authentication-add authentication layer in front of Helidon if architecturally feasible; (6) Serialization hardening-enforce strict deserialization validation and request-level input controls.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
In Apache Commons IO before 2.7, When invoking the method FileNameUtils.normalize with an improper input string, like "/
Scope-changing compromise of Oracle Helidon 4.5.3 (Imperative Web Server component) lets a remote, unauthenticated attac
Full remote takeover in Oracle Helidon 3.2.18 (Fusion Middleware, Imperative Web Server component) allows an unauthentic
Remote takeover in Oracle Helidon 4.5.0 lets an unauthenticated attacker fully compromise the framework's Imperative Web
Remote takeover of Oracle Helidon 3.2.18 (Imperative Web Server component, part of Oracle Fusion Middleware) allows an u
Remote takeover in Oracle Helidon 1.4.20 (Imperative Web Server component of Oracle Fusion Middleware) allows an unauthe
Remote takeover of Oracle Helidon 4.5.0 is possible when an unauthenticated attacker reaches the Imperative Web Server c
Complete takeover of Oracle Helidon 4.5.0 is achievable by remote, unauthenticated attackers over HTTP through the Imper
Unauthenticated remote compromise of Oracle Helidon 3.2.18 (Imperative Web Server component) lets network attackers read
Unauthenticated remote compromise in Oracle Helidon 4.5.0's Imperative Web Server component lets network attackers reach
Unauthenticated remote compromise of Oracle Helidon 4.5.0 (Imperative Web Server component, part of Oracle Fusion Middle
Authentication bypass in Oracle Helidon 3.2.18 (Imperative Web Server component of Oracle Fusion Middleware) lets an una
EUVD-2026-62120
GHSA-h5cg-wv75-68rm
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB