What is CVE-2026-42018?

CVE-2026-42018 is Anonymous user token generation exposure in JFrog Artifactory. The supplied enrichment data classifies it as Auth Bypass mapped to CWE-287 Improper Authentication.

Which versions are affected?

Affected product and version evidence is listed in the product table above. Current public advisories should be checked for exact version scope before patch targeting is finalized.

Is there active exploitation?

Yes: CISA KEV signal present. If exploitation is not confirmed from current sources, teams should document that status and continue monitoring KEV, vendor, and telemetry updates.

Is there a public exploit?

5 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. Public exploit or PoC availability should raise triage priority, especially for exposed or business-critical systems.

How can defenders detect it?

Start with web/proxy/WAF logs, application logs, network IDS/IPS, identity provider logs, authentication audit logs where available. Look for vulnerability-class behavior, product errors, suspicious authentication events, exploit probes, and abnormal process activity based only on evidence that applies to the affected product.

How should teams prioritize it?

Prioritize CVE-2026-42018 using CVSS 7.5, EPSS 10%, KEV status, public PoC status, and asset exposure. Internet-facing, privileged, or business-critical deployments should be handled first.

Are workarounds available?

The supplied mitigation guidance says to apply vendor patches and restrict external exposure until fixed. Fixed-version evidence is listed in the mitigation section above.

Which threat actors are linked publicly?

No public threat actor linkage is confirmed from current sources. Do not attribute exploitation to a threat actor unless the source evidence explicitly supports that linkage.

What should be done in the next 24 hours?

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations. Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class. Open remediation tickets with affected assets, owners, evidence status, and detection coverage so decisions are traceable.

CISA KEVhighAuth Bypasspublic exploit

CVE-2026-42018

CVE-2026-42018 — Anonymous user token generation exposure in JFrog Artifactory

Q: Is it in CISA KEV?

Yes. The supplied enrichment data lists CVE-2026-42018 in CISA KEV with required action: Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.. KEV status should be monitored because it can change after initial disclosure or after exploitation becomes publicly confirmed.

JFrog Artifactory could return an internal anonymous-user token to an unauthenticated caller when anonymous access is disabled, potentially exposing sensitive resources.

Published Aug 12, 2026Updated Sep 12, 2026Sources: NVD, jfrog (CNA), CISA, FIRST EPSS, GitHub, GitHub Security Advisory, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Confirmed

CISA KEV, listed Sep 11, 2026

EPSS

10%

ahead of 95% of scored CVEs

Affects

jfrog

5 products listed

CVSS base

7.5

high

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

Active

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

Yes

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Upgrade artifactory to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.

CISA required action

Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.

Federal deadline Sep 25, 2026 — passed 14 days ago

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status
jfrog	artifactory	0 to < 7.111.20	Vulnerable
jfrog	artifactory	7.117.0 to < 7.117.27	Vulnerable
jfrog	artifactory	7.125.0 to < 7.125.19	Vulnerable
jfrog	artifactory	7.133.0 to < 7.133.28	Vulnerable
jfrog	artifactory	7.146.0 to < 7.146.8	Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Availability

None

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Scope

Unchanged

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Network

Privileges Req

None

User Interaction

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
7.5	CVSS 3.1	high	3.9	3.6	jfrog.com (CNA), jfrog (CNA), GHSA

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

What this weakness leads to

MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.

MITRE

CWE-287 · Improper Authentication

Read Application Data
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

Mitigation: Use an authentication framework or library such as the OWASP ESAPI Authentication feature.::

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-287Improper Authentication

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

CAPEC-151 · Identity SpoofingCAPEC-57 · Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive DataCAPEC-194 · Fake the Source of DataCAPEC-22 · Exploiting Trust in ClientCAPEC-650 · Upload a Web Shell to a Web ServerCAPEC-593 · Session HijackingCAPEC-114 · Authentication AbuseCAPEC-94 · Man in the Middle AttackCAPEC-633 · Token ImpersonationCAPEC-115 · Authentication Bypass

T1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
T1040Network Sniffing
T1185Browser Session Hijacking

CISA KEV details

CISA lists a CVE here once it has evidence of exploitation against real targets.

CISAThat month →

Listed

Sep 11, 2026

Federal deadline

Sep 25, 2026

passed 14 days ago

Ransomware use

Unknown

CISA records ransomware use only for campaigns it has confirmed, so “Unknown” means unrecorded, not ruled out. The deadline binds US federal agencies; for everyone else it is a date to argue against.

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Repositories

1 of the 5 sampled are weaponized

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable artifactory.
Monitor for scanner or exploit-pattern traffic after 5 public PoC repositories were reported.

web/proxy/WAF logsapplication logsnetwork IDS/IPSidentity provider logsauthentication audit logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

2026
Added · CVSS 3.1 7.5 (AV:N)
Sep 12, 2026 · NVD
Added to CISA KEV catalog
Sep 11, 2026 · CISA
Initial · CVE published
Aug 12, 2026 · NVD
Added · GHSA-3q94-gprh-7pwm published (high)
Aug 12, 2026 · GitHub Security Advisory

Source activity

Readings a source repeats on a schedule, counted rather than listed.

1×CVE modified by NIST, Modified, LinkAug 12, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

References

8 on the record

docs.jfrog.com/releases/docs/artifactory-self-managed-releases
Release Notes, NIST, Vendor Advisory
docs.jfrog.com/releases/docs/jfrog-security-advisories
Vendor Advisory, NIST
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-42018
US Government Resource
www.wiz.io/blog/artifactory-under-attack-in-the-wild-exploitation-of-cve-2026-42016-cve-2026-4201
Third Party Advisory
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42018
NVD, Vendor Advisory
github.com/advisories/GHSA-3q94-gprh-7pwm
Exploit, Third Party Advisory
www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk
US Government Resource
www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-implementation-guidance-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk
US Government Resource

Elsewhere on this site

jfrogevery CVE for this vendor
September 2026what else CISA listed
Auth Bypasssame class
CWE-287other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-42018 is Anonymous user token generation exposure in JFrog Artifactory, a high vulnerability affecting artifactory from jfrog. The current evidence lists it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Yes: CISA KEV signal present. Public exploit evidence is: 5 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 7.5 describes technical severity, while EPSS 10% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.