Eclipse Arrowhead: Use of Non-Canonical URL Paths for Authorization Decisions
CVE-2026-80515 is a high-severity use of non-canonical URL paths for authorization decisions vulnerability in Eclipse Arrowhead from Eclipse Foundation, with a CVSS 4.0 base score of 8.9 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. Affected Eclipse Arrowhead versions: 5.0.0 through 5.2.1. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.47% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Check which version of Eclipse Arrowhead you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eclipse Foundation | Eclipse Arrowhead | 5.0.0 through 5.2.1 | Not stated |
Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.
How the severity score breaks down
- Attack vector
- NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
- Attack complexity
- LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
- Attack requirements
- PresentThe target must be in a specific state or configuration for the attack to work.
- Privileges required
- LowA basic user account is enough.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of confidentiality on the vulnerable system.
- Integrity (vulnerable system)
- HighSerious loss of integrity on the vulnerable system.
- Availability (vulnerable system)
- NoneNo loss of availability on the vulnerable system.
- Confidentiality (other systems)
- HighSerious loss of confidentiality on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Integrity (other systems)
- HighSerious loss of integrity on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
- Availability (other systems)
- HighSerious loss of availability on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X. Scored by CNA (eclipse.org).
Official description
In Eclipse Arrowhead versions from 5.0.0 to 5.2.1 the management-authorization gate that protects every /…/mgmt/… REST endpoint decides whether to apply its check by calling request.getRequestURL().toString().contains("/mgmt/"). Tomcat returns getRequestURL() un-decoded, while Spring MVC's DispatcherServlet routes on the decoded path. Requesting /serviceregistry/%6Dgmt/systems (%6D == m) therefore fails the substring check — the filter falls through without authorising — yet is decoded to /serviceregistry/mgmt/systems and dispatched to the management controller. Spring Security's StrictHttpFirewall (active via spring-boot-starter-security in arrowhead-common) only rejects encoded / \ . % ; and null bytes, so percent-encoded ASCII letters pass through. Any authenticated system — regardless of privilege — can reach every management operation, including POST /authentication/mgmt/identities which creates new sysop accounts, yielding full administrative takeover of the local cloud.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Use of Non-Canonical URL Paths for Authorization Decisions
The product defines policy namespaces and makes authorization decisions based on the assumption that a URL is canonical.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Make access control policy based on path information in canonical form, with all alternate encodings rejected (which can be accomplished by a default deny rule). Consider very restrictive regular expressions to validate that the path is in the expected form. Reject all alternate path encodings that are not in the expected canonical form.
More Use of Non-Canonical URL Paths for Authorization Decisions vulnerabilities (CWE-647)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
References
Other vulnerabilities in Eclipse Arrowhead
- 9.5 Critical severity
Recent Use of Non-Canonical URL Paths for Authorization Decisions vulnerabilities
- 8.1 High severity
- 8.2 High severity
- 7.3 High severity
- 9.8 Critical severity
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