GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Maven
GHSA-8ggj-j522-h5qf Apache Polaris has an Improper Input Validation Issue
CRITICAL
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-42809
- Ecosystem
- Maven
- Packages
- org.apache.polaris:polaris-runtime-service
- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Weaknesses
- CWE-20
- Reviewed
- 2026-05-08
Affected packages
• Maven org.apache.polaris:polaris-runtime-service: < 1.4.1 → fixed in 1.4.1
Description
Apache Polaris can issue broad temporary ("vended") storage credentials during staged table creation before the effective table location has been validated or durably reserved. Those temporary credentials are meant to limit the scope of accessible table data and metadata, but this scope limitation becomes attacker-directed because the attacker can choose a reachable target location.
In the confirmed variant, if the caller supplies a custom `location` during stage create and requests credential vending, Apache Polaris uses that location to construct delegated storage credentials immediately. The stage-create path itself neither runs the normal location validation nor the overlap checks before those credentials are issued.
Closely related to that, the staged-create flow also accepts `write.data.path` / `write.metadata.path` in the request properties and
feeds those location overrides into the same effective table location set used for credential vending. Those fields are secondary to the main custom-`location` exploit, but they are still attacker-influenced location inputs that should be validated before any credentials are issued.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-42809 Apache Polaris can issue broad temporary ("vended") storage credentials during staged table creation before the effective table location… vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-20 Improper Input Validation weakness
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42809 advisory
- https://github.com/apache/polaris/commit/c98d610bc8f7ee237b272e01814391838dd6abf9 web
- https://github.com/apache/polaris web
- https://github.com/apache/polaris/releases/tag/apache-polaris-1.4.1 web
- https://lists.apache.org/thread/8tfsr8y7pgq6rdcvjx95hkcr47td671r web
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/02/10 web