GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Maven
GHSA-hpj9-grjp-7vc7 Kestra: Unauthenticated management/actuator endpoints exposed on port 8081 (/env, /loggers) bypass API basic-auth
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-73245
- Ecosystem
- Maven
- Packages
- io.kestra:kestra
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-306
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-17
Affected packages
• Maven io.kestra:kestra: < 2.0.0 → fixed in 2.0.0
Description
Summary
Kestra's Micronaut management endpoints are served on port 8081 with no authentication, even when the main API (port 8080) has basic-auth enabled. Anyone who can reach `:8081` can read `GET /env` (full resolved environment/configuration) and mutate runtime state via `POST /loggers/{name}` (change log levels), among the other management endpoints. Enabling basic-auth creates a false sense of protection because the auth filter only covers `/api/v1/` on 8080 and never applies to the 8081 management port. The shipped repository contains no statement that 8081 is management-only / must-not-be-exposed, and the vendor's reference `docker-compose.yml` publishes it with no warning.
Affected
• Product: Kestra (`kestra-io/kestra`), an open-source orchestration/data-pipeline platform (Java / Micronaut).
• Version: v1.3.29 (confirmed); the management-port exposure is an insecure default of the shipped configuration.
• No fix at time of report.
Technical detail
Kestra runs the Micronaut management/actuator endpoints on a separate HTTP port 8081. The authentication filter (basic-auth, when configured) is scoped to the main API on port 8080 (`/api/v1/`) and does not apply to 8081. As a result:
• `GET http://:8081/env` returns the full resolved environment/configuration (property sources), unauthenticated.
• `POST http://:8081/loggers/{name}` changes a logger's level at runtime, unauthenticated (a state-changing operation).
• The other Micronaut management endpoints on 8081 are similarly reachable.
The shipped `application.yml` comments, `SECURITY.md`, and the vendor's reference `docker-compose.yml` do not warn that 8081 must be kept internal, and the reference compose publishes 8081, so a deployment that enables basic-auth on the API still exposes the management port with no auth.
Impact
An unauthenticated network client that can reach port 8081 can read the full application configuration/environment (`/env`) and change runtime logging (`/loggers`), and reach the other management endpoints — an authentication-bypass on the management surface. (Sensitive credential values in `/env` are masked, so this is scored without a full-secret-read confidentiality impact.)
Proof of concept
Reproduced live on Kestra v1.3.29 with basic-auth enabled on the main API. Unauthenticated `GET http://:8081/env` returned `200` with the resolved configuration/property sources, and `POST http://:8081/loggers/{name}` returned `200` and changed the logger level — both with no credentials. The equivalent main-API request on 8080 returned `401` (control), confirming the auth filter covers only the API port and not the 8081 management port. (Credential values in `/env` were masked.)
Full request/response captures available on request.
Remediation
Apply authentication to the management port (bind the Micronaut management endpoints behind the same auth as the API, or require a separate management credential), and by default bind port 8081 to loopback only. At minimum, document prominently (SECURITY.md, application.yml, the reference docker-compose) that port 8081 must never be exposed to untrusted networks, and do not publish 8081 in the reference compose.
Credit
Reported by Santosh Kumar Puppala (GitHub: https://github.com/Santoshkumarpuppala).
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-73245 Kestra is an open-source, event-driven orchestration platform. vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-306 Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality weakness