Security Digest · Vulnerability record
CVE-2026-45052: OpenAM Pre-auth User Profile Tampering via Anonymous SOAP Authn in Liberty IDPP/Discovery Endpoints
Open Access Management (OpenAM) is an access management solution.
CVSS 9.3 Critical EPSS 0.8% · p55
Should you act?
Critical and remotely reachable
No known exploitation yet, but it is network-reachable without credentials. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.
- 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 0.8%, percentile 55: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.8% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 55% of all scored CVEs (moderate). 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
org.openidentityplatform.openam:openam-federation-library(Maven) <= 16.0.6, fixed in 16.1.1. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.
What it is
Open Access Management (OpenAM) is an access management solution. Prior to 16.1.1, the Liberty Web Services SOAP receiver permits unauthenticated remote requests to write persistent entries through SOAPReceiver and DiscoveryService into a user's Liberty Discovery store and the shared root-realm Discovery branch. The server-side handlers bypass requester LDAP and identity ACLs, and the global path uses an internal administrative token. Deployments that consume Liberty discovery data can subsequently use manipulated service-routing or security-mechanism records. This issue is fixed in version 16.1.1.
From the GitHub advisory
Summary
Description
An Improper Authorization (CWE-285) issue in OpenAM's Liberty Web Services SOAP receiver allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to write persistent entries into the Liberty Discovery store on any user's LDAP entry, and into a shared root-realm Discovery branch. This impacts OpenAM Community Edition through version 16.0.6. This issue was patched in version 16.1.1.
Liberty ID-WSF is a legacy protocol superseded by SAML 2.0, OAuth, and OIDC, and deployments that intentionally leverage it assume the risks of an unmaintained federation stack. While Liberty is exposed in the shipped defaults, this bug does not require active Liberty consumers for the write itself. Downstream impact depends on whether anything consumes Discovery data. The endpoint accepts anonymous writes that are performed server-side by the Discovery handlers, bypassing the requester's LDAP and identity ACLs. The global Discovery path explicitly uses the internal admin token.
Impact
Weakness type: CWE-285.
Product: org.openidentityplatform.openam:openam-federation-library (Maven) · Assigned by: GitHub_M · Published: 2026-09-15
Affected and fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable | First fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maven | org.openidentityplatform.openam:openam-federation-library | <= 16.0.6 | 16.1.1 |
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions (per CVE record) |
|---|---|---|
| OpenIdentityPlatform | OpenAM | < 16.1.1 |
Severity scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_M | 4.0 | 9.3 Critical | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:L/SA:N |
| GitHub | 4.0 | 9.3 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:L/SA:N |
- Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
- Attack complexity: low
- Attack requirements: none
- Privileges required: none (no login)
- User interaction: none
CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.
Exploitation and urgency
- 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): 0.77% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 55.
Timeline
- — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-p462-xxwx-pqf4 published (critical)
- — CVE record published by GitHub_M
- — CVE record last updated
Sources and references
Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.
Vulnerability records
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-p462-xxwx-pqf4 github.com
- CVE.org record CVE-2026-45052 cve.org
- NVD entry CVE-2026-45052 nvd.nist.gov
Other references from the CVE record and advisory
- github.com github.com
- github.com github.com
- github.com github.com