Authenticated authorization bypass via Protected Rule regex evaluation
Published Sep 8, 2026 · Updated Sep 10, 2026
Authorization bypass in Okta Access Gateway before 2026.9.1 allows remote authenticated users to access Protected Rule resources. The Protected Rule authorization check improperly sanitizes input during PCRE evaluation against session data, causing configured expressions to grant access incorrectly. Exploitation requires a valid application-assigned account at any privilege level and an administrator-configured Protected Rule, exposing protected application data to unauthorized reading or modification.
Summary
What happened
Authorization bypass in Okta Access Gateway before 2026.9.1 allows remote authenticated users to access Protected Rule resources. The Protected Rule authorization check improperly sanitizes input during PCRE evaluation against session data, causing configured expressions to grant access incorrectly. Exploitation requires a valid application-assigned account at any privilege level and an administrator-configured Protected Rule, exposing protected application data to unauthorized reading or modification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-78626
- Published
- Sep 8, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 10, 2026
- Vendor
- Okta
- Product
- Okta Access Gateway
- Classifications
- CWE-863, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 8, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 10, 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?
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- Affected versionversion=0 <2026.9.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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