Apache Karaf: config:install missing ACL entry allows privilege escalation to admin

{
  "id": "54d2f38f269949848c32b4b9854c64ffab0ab73066b8425bb79b38e4263123e1",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-91085",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Apache Karaf: config:install missing ACL entry allows privilege escalation to admin",
    "summary": "Apache Karaf's shell/SSH command security is enforced by per-scope ACL configuration files (etc/org.apache.karaf.command.acl..cfg). SecuredSessionFactoryImpl.checkSecurity() resolves the roles required for an invocation and, when no ACL rule matches the command, fails open: ACLConfigurationParser.Specificity.NO_MATCH sets passCheck = true. The safety valve for this, karaf.secured.command.compulsory.roles, ships commented out in etc/system.properties, so an unmatched command is allowed for any authenticated user. The shipped org.apache.karaf.command.acl.config ACL (assemblies/features/standard/src/main/feature/feature.xml, mirrored into instance/.../etc/org.apache.karaf.command.acl.config.cfg) has no install entry. It restricts delete to admin, restricts edit/property-*/update on the jmx.acl.*, org.apache.karaf.command.acl.* and org.apache.karaf.service.acl.* PIDs to admin, and allows manager for everything else, but config:install was simply unmatched, and therefore allowed for any authenticated user, including one holding only the viewer role. config:install fetches url and writes it into ${karaf.etc} as finalname. It calls PathUtils.checkWithin() to block .. traversal outside karaf.etc, but that folder holds every security-relevant file Karaf ships: users.properties, keys.properties, host.key, and all org.apache.karaf.*.acl.* files, including the very ACL file that (mis)governs this command. With -o/--override, an existing file is overwritten with attacker-controlled bytes ",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-91085",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2026-91085",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2026-91085"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/apache/karaf",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "189048fff3422afaadcbbb57d95b257cb35248ad"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:apache:karaf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "4.4.12"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "karaf-4.4.8",
            "karaf-4.4.7",
            "karaf-4.4.6",
            "karaf-4.4.5",
            "karaf-4.4.4",
            "karaf-4.4.3",
            "karaf-4.4.2",
            "karaf-4.4.1",
            "karaf-4.4.0",
            "karaf-4.3.3",
            "karaf-4.3.2",
            "karaf-4.3.1",
            "karaf-4.3.0",
            "karaf-4.3.0.RC1",
            "karaf-4.2.3",
            "karaf-4.2.2",
            "karaf-4.2.1",
            "karaf-4.2.0",
            "karaf-4.2.0.M2",
            "karaf-4.2.0.M1",
            "karaf-4.1.1",
            "karaf-4.1.0",
            "karaf-4.0.4",
            "karaf-4.0.3",
            "karaf-4.0.2",
            "karaf-4.0.1",
            "karaf-4.0.0.M2",
            "karaf-4.0.0.M1",
            "karaf-3.0.0"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-91085.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:30.298147441Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/91xxx/CVE-2026-91085.json",
        "https://karaf.apache.org/security/cve-2026-91085.txt",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-91085"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-862"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "apache",
        "unresolved_ranges": [
          {
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "fixed": "4.4.12"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                "strategy": "StandardRange"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/91xxx/CVE-2026-91085.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2026-91085",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 497295,
  "published_at": "2026-09-29T08:39:33.209+00:00"
}