CVE-2026-115494 in Business Hub
Summary
by MITRE • 10/22/2026
A flaw in the cross-site request forgery (CSRF) prevention of KNIME Business Hub prior to version 1.19.0 allows an authenticated attacker to perform a CSRF attack with passive user interaction. This means the state of a resource could be changed without the user noticing. As a workaround, an API gateway for firewall in front of KNIME Business Hub could remove the X-Forwaded-For header from all incoming requests.
Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/22/2026
The vulnerability identified in KNIME Business Hub versions prior to 1.19.0 represents a critical failure in cross-site request forgery defenses, specifically categorized under CWE-352 as Cross-Site Request Forgery. This flaw allows an authenticated attacker to execute unauthorized commands on behalf of a victim user by exploiting the application's insufficient validation of incoming requests. Unlike traditional CSRF attacks that require active interaction such as clicking a malicious link or submitting a form, this vulnerability permits state-changing operations with only passive user involvement. The core technical issue lies in how the application processes identity and session information from HTTP headers rather than relying solely on standard cookies for authentication verification during sensitive transactions.
The operational impact of this flaw is significant because it undermines the principle that authenticated actions must be explicitly initiated by the legitimate user. An attacker can craft a malicious webpage or email containing a request to KNIME Business Hub that triggers administrative changes, data modification, or other privileged operations when viewed by an authenticated victim. Since the attack relies on passive interaction, such as simply loading a page in the background while the user is logged into their work environment, detection becomes exceedingly difficult for both the end-user and standard security monitoring tools. The attacker does not need to trick the user into performing complex actions; mere exposure to the malicious payload is sufficient to trigger the state change within the application context of the victim's active session.
From a threat intelligence perspective, this vulnerability aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1566.002, which describes Spearphishing Link attacks where users are lured into visiting a site that performs unauthorized actions in their name. The exploitation vector typically involves social engineering to direct the victim's browser toward a controlled endpoint containing the malicious request payload. Because KNIME Business Hub is often used in enterprise environments for data science and analytics workflows, successful exploitation could lead to tampering with critical datasets, modification of user configurations, or escalation of privileges if administrative endpoints are targeted without adequate protection against forged requests originating from untrusted sources.
To mitigate this risk effectively, organizations must implement network-level controls as a primary defense mechanism until an upgraded version is deployed. The recommended workaround involves configuring the API gateway or web application firewall positioned in front of KNIME Business Hub to strip the X-Forwarded-For header from all incoming requests. This action prevents attackers from spoofing source IP addresses or manipulating proxy headers that might be incorrectly trusted by the application for session validation logic. Additionally, implementing strict SameSite cookie attributes on authentication tokens can further reduce susceptibility by ensuring cookies are not sent with cross-site requests. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should also be conducted to verify that no other endpoints within the platform remain vulnerable to similar forgery techniques, ensuring comprehensive protection against this class of web application attacks.