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CriticalPublic exploit

Authentication bypass in authentik Source stage

IdentifiersCVE-2026-49448CWE-287· Improper Authentication

CVE-2026-49448 affects authentik, an open-source identity provider. In versions prior to 2025.12.6, 2026.2.4, and 2026.5.1, the Source stage can be bypassed by sending an empty POST request. Based on the available information, the flaw is an authentication-related weakness in the handling of the Source stage request flow, where an empty POST is incorrectly accepted in a way that allows the stage to be skipped or bypassed.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass the Source stage in authentik's authentication or identity flow. The provided CVSS v3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) indicates remote exploitation with no privileges or user interaction and suggests potentially high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, depending on how the affected Source stage is used in deployment.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure of authentik to untrusted networks where feasible and closely monitor authentication and flow-related requests for anomalous empty POST submissions targeting Source stage endpoints. Review deployments and flows that rely on the Source stage for security decisions, and apply compensating access controls until patched. Specific vendor-provided mitigations beyond upgrading were not provided in the available content.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade authentik to a fixed release. The issue is patched in versions 2025.12.6, 2026.2.4, and 2026.5.1. Organizations should update to the appropriate patched version in their supported release branch and verify that authentication flows using the Source stage behave as expected after the upgrade.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
GoauthentikAuthentikapplication

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What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

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Associated malware

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Detection signatures

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Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity5

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