GeoNetwork: ACL bypass on Elasticsearch search when request body omits query field

published 2026-07-01 4 mo ago modified 2026-11-07 2 d ago also GHSA-582q-v28r-7cxr , EUVD-2026-116138

cvss: 7.5; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.5%; EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 40%
public exploits: 0; none known

GeoNetwork is a catalog application to manage spatially referenced resources. From 4.0.0-alpha.1 until 4.2.16 and 4.4.11, the Elasticsearch-backed search proxy can skip GeoNetwork's access-control filter injection when a client request has an omitted query field. The request is then forwarded to Elasticsearch without group visibility, draft exclusion, record ownership, or portal-specific filtering. An unauthenticated remote attacker can use the affected public search API to retrieve the full indexed contents of metadata records that should not be publicly visible. This issue is fixed in versions 4.2.16 and 4.4.11.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1 links 4

maven org.geonetwork-opensource:geonetwork 4.2.16, 4.4.11

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 2 d ago (2026-11-07)

Exploit prediction

0.46% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
GitHub	3.1	7.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
maven	org.geonetwork-opensource:geonetwork	>=4.0.0-alpha.1, <=4.0.6-0 >=4.2.0, <4.2.16 >=4.4.0, <4.4.11	4.2.16 4.4.11

Affected products

geonetwork core-geonetwork

Classification

Weakness

CWE-862 Missing Authorization

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary