Unauthenticated user-data disclosure via unguarded demo endpoint
Published May 14, 2026 · Updated May 14, 2026
Authentication bypass in Hedera Guardian 3.5.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to read registered-user data through a demo API endpoint. The registeredUsers handler lacks the authentication guard used by sibling routes, so it returns usernames, DIDs, system roles, and policy assignments without validating a token. The maintainer states that production builds remove the demo module; exposure is limited to development or test deployments that publish the route.
Summary
What happened
Authentication bypass in Hedera Guardian 3.5.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to read registered-user data through a demo API endpoint. The registeredUsers handler lacks the authentication guard used by sibling routes, so it returns usernames, DIDs, system roles, and policy assignments without validating a token. The maintainer states that production builds remove the demo module; exposure is limited to development or test deployments that publish the route.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-45248
- Published
- May 14, 2026
- Updated
- May 14, 2026
- Vendor
- Hedera Hashgraph
- Product
- Guardian
- Classifications
- CWE-306, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 14, 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.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=3.5.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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