CVE-2026-33557

CVE-2026-33557: Apache Kafka: Missing JWT token validation in OAUTHBEARER authentication

Vendor Apache Software Foundation
Product Apache Kafka
Weakness CWE-1285
Published April 20, 2026
Last update April 20, 2026

CVSS base score

What the vulnerability does

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.

Key dates

Disclosure timeline

April 20, 2026 CVE published
April 20, 2026 Record updated