Authorization bypass via mixed-case header matcher
Published Sep 1, 2026 · Updated Sep 2, 2026
Authorization bypass in gRPC-Go before 1.83.1 allows remote attackers to evade xDS RBAC DENY rules through mixed-case header matchers. normalizeHeaderMatcher in internal/xds/httpfilter/rbac/rbac.go compares policy header names without lowercasing them, while incoming metadata keys are always lowercase. Exposure requires an xDS RBAC DENY policy that uses an uppercase header name; matching requests are served instead of rejected.
Summary
What happened
Authorization bypass in gRPC-Go before 1.83.1 allows remote attackers to evade xDS RBAC DENY rules through mixed-case header matchers. normalizeHeaderMatcher in internal/xds/httpfilter/rbac/rbac.go compares policy header names without lowercasing them, while incoming metadata keys are always lowercase. Exposure requires an xDS RBAC DENY policy that uses an uppercase header name; matching requests are served instead of rejected.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-84303
- Published
- Sep 1, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 2, 2026
- Vendor
- gRPC
- Product
- gRPC-Go
- Classifications
- CWE-178, CWE-863, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 1, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 2, 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=< 1.83.1
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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