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.
Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-28jg-cgg7-j4wc Apache Kafka does not validate JWT tokens in its OAUTHBEARER authentication implementation
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-303
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

threat_severity

Important


Wed, 22 Apr 2026 14:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:apache:kafka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Apache
Apache kafka
Vendors & Products Apache
Apache kafka

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 9.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description 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.
Title Apache Kafka: Missing JWT token validation in OAUTHBEARER authentication
Weaknesses CWE-1285
References

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: apache

Published:

Updated: 2026-04-20T14:30:30.936Z

Reserved: 2026-03-23T03:14:53.527Z

Link: CVE-2026-33557

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-04-20T13:38:51.117Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2026-04-20T14:16:18.780

Modified: 2026-04-22T14:14:52.030

Link: CVE-2026-33557

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Important

Publid Date: 2026-04-20T13:28:43Z

Links: CVE-2026-33557 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-04-28T21:45:26Z

Weaknesses