ORY Oathkeeper is an Identity & Access Proxy (IAP) and Access Control Decision API that authorizes HTTP requests based on sets of Access Rules. Versions prior to 26.2.0 are vulnerable to authentication bypass due to cache key confusion. The `oauth2_introspection` authenticator cache does not distinguish tokens that were validated with different introspection URLs. An attacker can therefore legitimately use a token to prime the cache, and subsequently use the same token for rules that use a different introspection server. Ory Oathkeeper has to be configured with multiple `oauth2_introspection` authenticator servers, each accepting different tokens. The authenticators also must be configured to use caching. An attacker has to have a way to gain a valid token for one of the configured introspection servers. Starting in version 26.2.0, Ory Oathkeeper includes the introspection server URL in the cache key, preventing confusion of tokens. Update to the patched version of Ory Oathkeeper. If that is not immediately possible, disable caching for `oauth2_introspection` authenticators.
Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-4mq7-pvjg-xp2r Ory Oathkeeper has an authentication bypass by cache key confusion
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description ORY Oathkeeper is an Identity & Access Proxy (IAP) and Access Control Decision API that authorizes HTTP requests based on sets of Access Rules. Versions prior to 26.2.0 are vulnerable to authentication bypass due to cache key confusion. The `oauth2_introspection` authenticator cache does not distinguish tokens that were validated with different introspection URLs. An attacker can therefore legitimately use a token to prime the cache, and subsequently use the same token for rules that use a different introspection server. Ory Oathkeeper has to be configured with multiple `oauth2_introspection` authenticator servers, each accepting different tokens. The authenticators also must be configured to use caching. An attacker has to have a way to gain a valid token for one of the configured introspection servers. Starting in version 26.2.0, Ory Oathkeeper includes the introspection server URL in the cache key, preventing confusion of tokens. Update to the patched version of Ory Oathkeeper. If that is not immediately possible, disable caching for `oauth2_introspection` authenticators.
Title Ory Oathkeeper has an authentication bypass by cache key confusion
Weaknesses CWE-1289
CWE-305
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 8.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-03-26T17:29:41.564Z

Reserved: 2026-03-20T16:59:08.887Z

Link: CVE-2026-33496

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-03-26T18:16:30.730

Modified: 2026-03-26T18:16:30.730

Link: CVE-2026-33496

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses