CVE-2026-40172Network attack vector

Authenticated privilege escalation via unchecked group assignment

Published May 22, 2026 · Updated May 22, 2026

Privilege escalation in authentik before 2025.12.5 and 2026.2.0-rc1 through 2026.2.2 allows remote authenticated users to gain superuser access. UserSerializer accepts arbitrary groups in PATCH requests for users without enforcing the enable_group_superuser permission required by group-management paths. Permission to change a target user is sufficient to place that user in an is_superuser group, granting administrator-equivalent control.

CVSS severity8.1
High
EPSS probability0.53%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in authentik before 2025.12.5 and 2026.2.0-rc1 through 2026.2.2 allows remote authenticated users to gain superuser access. UserSerializer accepts arbitrary groups in PATCH requests for users without enforcing the enable_group_superuser permission required by group-management paths. Permission to change a target user is sufficient to place that user in an is_superuser group, granting administrator-equivalent control.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-40172
Published
May 22, 2026
Updated
May 22, 2026
Vendor
Authentik Security Inc.
Product
authentik
Classifications
CWE-269, T1098
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 22, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 22, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 2025.12.5
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 2026.2.0-rc1, < 2026.2.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Authentik Security Inc. · authentikversion=< 2025.12.5; version=>= 2026.2.0-rc1, < 2026.2.3

Published CVSS scores

8.1GitHub CNACVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1098Account Manipulation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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