CVE-2026-21755 in Hive
Summary
by MITRE • 08/24/2026
HCL Hive is affected by a missing rate limit which could allow an attacker unauthorized access via brute-force or credential stuffing attacks, or cause a denial of service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/24/2026
The vulnerability identified in HCL Hive represents a critical failure in implementing adequate input validation and session management controls, specifically concerning the absence of effective rate limiting mechanisms on authentication endpoints. This architectural oversight allows an external actor to submit an unbounded number of login attempts within a short timeframe without encountering any throttling or blocking triggers. In modern web application security frameworks, such as those defined by OWASP Top Ten under categories like Broken Access Control and insufficient anti-automation controls, the lack of rate limiting is considered a severe misconfiguration that fundamentally undermines the integrity of user authentication processes. By failing to restrict the frequency of requests from a single source IP or account identifier, the application exposes itself to automated exploitation tools designed to systematically guess valid credentials through brute-force attacks or leverage leaked credential databases in credential stuffing scenarios.
From an operational perspective, this flaw enables attackers to bypass traditional security perimeter defenses that rely on detecting anomalous traffic patterns. Since there are no limits imposed on login attempts, malicious actors can utilize distributed computing resources to scale their efforts across multiple IP addresses and user agents, effectively evading simple heuristic-based detection systems. The primary impact of this vulnerability is the potential compromise of user accounts through successful credential guessing. Once an attacker gains unauthorized access via brute-force methods, they may escalate privileges depending on the role associated with the compromised account, leading to data exfiltration, modification of critical business logic, or further lateral movement within the internal network infrastructure. Furthermore, even if authentication is not successfully breached, the ability to flood the login endpoint with requests can lead to resource exhaustion, resulting in a denial of service condition that degrades application performance for legitimate users and increases operational costs due to increased server load and potential need for emergency scaling or mitigation efforts.
This vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-307 Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts, which highlights the risks associated with allowing unlimited login trials without account lockout policies or progressive delays. Additionally, from a tactical standpoint as mapped in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this flaw facilitates techniques such as Credential Stuffing (T1110.004) and Brute Force (T1110), which are commonly employed during the initial access phase of an attack lifecycle. The absence of these controls also impacts compliance with various regulatory standards that mandate robust identity and access management practices, potentially exposing the organization to legal and reputational risks in the event of a data breach stemming from this weakness.
To mitigate this vulnerability, it is imperative to implement comprehensive rate limiting strategies at both the application layer and network perimeter level. This includes enforcing strict limits on the number of authentication attempts per user account and per source IP address over defined time windows. Upon reaching these thresholds, the system should temporarily lock the affected accounts or block the originating IP addresses for a predetermined period. Implementing multi-factor authentication adds an additional layer of defense that significantly reduces the efficacy of brute-force attacks even if passwords are compromised. Furthermore, deploying advanced threat detection solutions capable of identifying and blocking automated bot traffic can provide real-time protection against credential stuffing campaigns. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to verify the effectiveness of these controls and ensure they remain robust against evolving attack techniques.