Description
A Kafka broker that authenticates clients with SASL/OAUTHBEARER using the bundled JWKS-backed validator always verifies the JWT signature, but two further checks are only performed when explicitly configured:

- The issuer (iss) claim is verified only when sasl.oauthbearer.expected.issuer is set. When it is unset, a validly-signed token carrying the expected audience is accepted regardless of which issuer minted it.
- An audience (aud) claim is required only when sasl.oauthbearer.expected.audience is set. When it is unset, a validly-signed token that omits the aud claim is accepted. (A token that carries an aud claim is
still rejected when no expected audience is configured.)

Both options default to unset and have been documented as optional (Importance LOW) since KIP-768 (3.1.0).

Impact:
The exposure is realizable mainly in deployments whose JWKS endpoint serves signing keys for more than one issuer (a multi-tenant identity provider, an aggregated/shared JWKS, or shared signing keys): a token
minted for a different issuer, or a token lacking an audience, may be accepted to authenticate — potentially as a higher-privileged principal. In a single-issuer deployment where the provider controls the iss
claim and issues audience-scoped tokens, exposure is limited. The signature trust anchor remains enforced in all cases. This is distinct from CVE-2026-33557 (acceptance of unsigned/unvalidated tokens); here the
signature is validated and only the issuer/audience checks are not enforced by default.

Mitigation (all affected versions, no upgrade required):
Set both sasl.oauthbearer.expected.issuer (to your provider's exact iss value) and sasl.oauthbearer.expected.audience (to the audience(s) your brokers expect), per listener. Brokers that set these perform
exact-match issuer/audience checks and are not affected. Both have been available since 3.1.0.

Resolution:
- From Apache Kafka 4.4.0: a broker configured with a JWKS endpoint fails to start unless both sasl.oauthbearer.expected.issuer and sasl.oauthbearer.expected.audience are set (secure by default). Deployments that
intentionally do not restrict the issuer and/or audience may opt out per axis with sasl.oauthbearer.allow.unverified.issuer=true and/or sasl.oauthbearer.allow.unverified.audience=true.
Published: 2026-10-28
Score: n/a
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
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Remediation

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References
History

Wed, 28 Oct 2026 22:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Apache
Apache kafka
Vendors & Products Apache
Apache kafka

Wed, 28 Oct 2026 16:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A Kafka broker that authenticates clients with SASL/OAUTHBEARER using the bundled JWKS-backed validator always verifies the JWT signature, but two further checks are only performed when explicitly configured: - The issuer (iss) claim is verified only when sasl.oauthbearer.expected.issuer is set. When it is unset, a validly-signed token carrying the expected audience is accepted regardless of which issuer minted it. - An audience (aud) claim is required only when sasl.oauthbearer.expected.audience is set. When it is unset, a validly-signed token that omits the aud claim is accepted. (A token that carries an aud claim is still rejected when no expected audience is configured.) Both options default to unset and have been documented as optional (Importance LOW) since KIP-768 (3.1.0). Impact: The exposure is realizable mainly in deployments whose JWKS endpoint serves signing keys for more than one issuer (a multi-tenant identity provider, an aggregated/shared JWKS, or shared signing keys): a token minted for a different issuer, or a token lacking an audience, may be accepted to authenticate — potentially as a higher-privileged principal. In a single-issuer deployment where the provider controls the iss claim and issues audience-scoped tokens, exposure is limited. The signature trust anchor remains enforced in all cases. This is distinct from CVE-2026-33557 (acceptance of unsigned/unvalidated tokens); here the signature is validated and only the issuer/audience checks are not enforced by default. Mitigation (all affected versions, no upgrade required): Set both sasl.oauthbearer.expected.issuer (to your provider's exact iss value) and sasl.oauthbearer.expected.audience (to the audience(s) your brokers expect), per listener. Brokers that set these perform exact-match issuer/audience checks and are not affected. Both have been available since 3.1.0. Resolution: - From Apache Kafka 4.4.0: a broker configured with a JWKS endpoint fails to start unless both sasl.oauthbearer.expected.issuer and sasl.oauthbearer.expected.audience are set (secure by default). Deployments that intentionally do not restrict the issuer and/or audience may opt out per axis with sasl.oauthbearer.allow.unverified.issuer=true and/or sasl.oauthbearer.allow.unverified.audience=true.
Title Apache Kafka: Broker does not enforce JWT issuer and audience validation for SASL/OAUTHBEARER by default
Weaknesses CWE-1188
CWE-345
References

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: apache

Published:

Updated: 2026-10-28T16:37:34.723Z

Reserved: 2026-10-15T09:13:40.750Z

Link: CVE-2026-110952

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-10-28T17:17:37.997

Modified: 2026-10-28T17:17:37.997

Link: CVE-2026-110952

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-10-28T22:11:14Z

Weaknesses
  • CWE-1188

    Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default

  • CWE-345

    Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity