Vulnerability report

Active exploitation observed Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2026-49869

kestra Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution

Kestra-io / kestra · affected before 1.0.45

Watch CVE-2026-49869 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 10.0 · Critical
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Observed in sensors
EPSS
2.1%
First observed
18 Sep 2026
Last observed
18 Sep 2026

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2026-49869 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Kestra-io kestra. Kestra is an open-source, event-driven orchestration platform. Prior to 1.0.45 and 1.3.21, AuthenticationFilter in Kestra OSS uses...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian sensors observed exploitation attempts with confirmed confidence. Listed in CISA KEV. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

Kestra-io / kestra affected before 1.0.45.

What should we do?

Patch immediately, validate internet-facing exposure, and monitor for matching requests.

Overview

Kestra is an open-source, event-driven orchestration platform

Kestra is an open-source, event-driven orchestration platform. Prior to 1.0.45 and 1.3.21, AuthenticationFilter in Kestra OSS uses request.getPath().endsWith("/configs") to whitelist the public configuration endpoint from Basic Auth. Because the check is a suffix match rather than an exact path match, any API path whose last segment is configs bypasses authentication entirely.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this to create and execute arbitrary workflows without credentials. Because Kestra ships with script execution plugins (plugin-script-shell, plugin-script-python, etc.) enabled by default, this directly results in unauthenticated Remote Code Execution as root inside the Kestra worker container. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.0.45 and 1.3.21.

kestra-io Affected
kestra
Before 1.0.45 >= 1.1.0, < 1.3.21
Published
26 Jun 2026
Exploitation Reported
02 Sep 2026
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

python cisa

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 02 Sep 2026

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Active exploitation observed

Previdian sensor

First observed 18 Sep 2026

Previdian first observed exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability in our honeypot sensors.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 30 Jun 2026

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2026-09-02 17:31 UTC
CVE 2026-09-02 18:02 UTC
Previdian Sensors 2026-09-18 08:10 UTC

Operational indicators for this CVE are listed under Detection.

Sensor telemetry

First-party evidence of exploitation activity

Previdian sensors recorded exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability. The cards and chart show volume, unique attackers, and daily activity.

10

Attempts observed

1

Unique attacker IPs

1

Attacker countries

NL

5

Sensors observed

CVE-2026-49869 exploitation attempts over the last 36 days

Daily events observed by Previdian sensors

Updated 22 Oct 2026

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17 Sep 25 Sep 3 Oct 11 Oct 22 Oct

First observed 18 Sep 2026 · Last observed 18 Sep 2026

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Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

Previdian virtual patch guidance is available for this CVE.

AWS WAF Cloudflare ModSecurity

Attacker IP Indicators

Attacker IP indicators observed · available in Pro and Enterprise.

Sensor-derived attacker IP indicators are available to Pro and Enterprise accounts under Detection and through the Pro API.

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Virtual Patch Detail

Compensating WAF rules for this CVE.

Available

Enterprise feature. Virtual patch rule content and deployable vendor exports (ModSecurity, Cloudflare, AWS WAF) are available to Previdian Enterprise users.

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Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

10.0 Critical

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

2.1%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs CWE-184 Improper Authentication CWE-287 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') CWE-78 Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) CWE-918

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

EQSTLab/CVE-2026-49869

github · Created 2026-09-29 05:24:33 UTC · 1 stars · AI assessment 90%

Kestra Unauthenticated RCE

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 13:02 UTC

    Virtual patch available

    Compensating WAF rule available to block exploitation

  2. 05:24 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  3. 00:36 UTC

    Indicator of compromise added

    Indicators of compromise recorded

  4. 00:36 UTC

    Observed by Previdian sensors

    Evidence-backed exploitation signal

  5. 18:02 UTC

    KEV confirmed by CVE

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  6. 17:31 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  7. 20:58 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  8. 22:03 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2026-49869

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2026-49869",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 10.0,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.02095,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": true
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 10, "sensors": 5 }
}