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Critical

OpenStack Mistral API policy bypass leading to remote code execution

IdentifiersCVE-2026-41283CWE-862

CVE-2026-41283 is a critical vulnerability in OpenStack Mistral affecting deployments where the Mistral API is exposed. Several Mistral API endpoints fail to enforce required access policies, allowing any authenticated user to create public resources and upload arbitrary code. That code is then executed on Mistral executor workers. The flaw is fundamentally an authorization failure in administrative or sensitive API operations, enabling a low-privileged authenticated tenant to perform actions that should be restricted to privileged users. Reported affected versions include Mistral >=20.0.0 and <20.1.1, 21.0.0, and 22.0.0.

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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 arbitrary remote code execution on Mistral executor workers. An attacker can use this access to compromise backend workflow execution, access sensitive configuration and runtime data available to the worker process, and exfiltrate secrets including service credentials. Depending on the worker's privileges and connected services, this can enable broader infrastructure compromise, lateral movement, and abuse of OpenStack service trust relationships.

Mitigation

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

If immediate patching is not possible, restrict exposure of the Mistral API to trusted management networks only, disable or tightly limit access for untrusted tenants, and enforce strong authentication and network-layer access controls in front of the API. Monitor Mistral for unexpected creation of public resources, suspicious workflow definitions, or code uploads, and rotate any credentials that may have been exposed from executor workers. Because exploitation requires authenticated API access, reducing the set of accounts able to reach Mistral materially lowers risk, but patching is the required long-term fix.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the vendor-issued fixes for the affected OpenStack Mistral branches. The provided context indicates patches were released for the Epoxy, Flamingo, Gazpacho, and Hibiscus branches; administrators should upgrade to the fixed package versions available for their deployed branch. Review OpenStack advisory OSSA-2026-020 and associated package updates, then verify that policy enforcement is restored on the affected Mistral API endpoints.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

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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 activity10

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