---
title: "CVE-2026-33494: Ory Oathkeeper has a path traversal authorization bypass"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-33494/
description: "CVE-2026-33494 (github.com/ory/oathkeeper (Go)): ORY Oathkeeper is an Identity & Access Proxy (IAP) and Access Control Decision API that authorizes HTTP…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2026-03-26
date_modified: 2026-03-27
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2026-33494"
kev: false
cvss: 10
epss: 0.00641
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

# CVE-2026-33494: Ory Oathkeeper has a path traversal authorization bypass

**Signal:** Critical and remotely reachable. No known exploitation yet, but it is network-reachable without credentials. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
- EPSS 0.6% , percentile 50: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.6% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 50% of all scored CVEs (low). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
- Remotely reachable with no login and no user interaction. If the vulnerable service is exposed to the internet, prioritize it.
- Only applies if your dependency tree includes github.com/ory/oathkeeper (Go) < 0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491, fixed in 0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491 . Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

## What it is

ORY Oathkeeper is an Identity & Access Proxy (IAP) and Access Control Decision API that authorizes HTTP requests based on sets of Access Rules. Versions prior to 26.2.0 are vulnerable to an authorization bypass via HTTP path traversal. An attacker can craft a URL containing path traversal sequences (e.g. /public/../admin/secrets) that resolves to a protected path after normalization, but is matched against a permissive rule because the raw, un-normalized path is used during rule evaluation. Version 26.2.0 contains a patch.

## Affected packages

- Go `github.com/ory/oathkeeper` < 0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491 → fixed: 0.40.10-0.20260320084758-8e0002140491

## Affected products (CVE record)

- ory oathkeeper: < 26.2.0

## Severity

- GitHub_M CVSS 3.1: 10 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N`
- GitHub CVSS 3.1: 10.0 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N`

## Exploitation

- CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
- CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none , automatable yes , technical impact total .
- FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.64% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 50.

## Sources

- [GitHub Advisory GHSA-p224-6x5r-fjpm](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-p224-6x5r-fjpm)
- [CVE.org record CVE-2026-33494](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-33494)
- [NVD entry CVE-2026-33494](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33494)
- [github.com](https://github.com/ory/oathkeeper/security/advisories/GHSA-p224-6x5r-fjpm)
- [github.com](https://github.com/ory/oathkeeper/commit/8e0002140491c592db41fa141dc6ad68f417e2b2)

---
Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-33494/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt