CVE-2026-59271 in Spring AMQP
Summary
by MITRE • 08/27/2026
When the RabbitMQ management aliveness check fails, the configured admin password is embedded in cleartext in the thrown exception message. Spring AMQP 4.1.0 Spring AMQP 4.0.0 - 4.0.4 Spring AMQP 3.2.0 - 3.2.12 Spring AMQP 2.4.18 and earlier
Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/27/2026
The vulnerability identified in the RabbitMQ management aliveness check within specific versions of Spring AMQP represents a critical information disclosure flaw that exposes sensitive authentication credentials to potential attackers. This issue affects multiple branches of the library, including version 4.1.0 as well as legacy ranges such as 3.2.0 through 3.2.12 and 2.4.18 and earlier. The core technical failure occurs during the execution of health checks or connectivity tests against a RabbitMQ broker where the management plugin is enabled but unreachable or misconfigured. Under these conditions, instead of returning a generic connection error or masking sensitive details for security reasons, the application logic inadvertently includes the configured administrative password directly within the exception message thrown by the framework. This behavior transforms what should be an internal operational failure into a significant vector for credential leakage.
From a technical perspective, this flaw stems from improper handling of exceptions during the initialization phase of connection factories or health indicators. When Spring AMQP attempts to verify connectivity via the RabbitMQ management API aliveness endpoint, it constructs error responses that propagate underlying Java exception details back to the caller. In many enterprise environments, these stack traces and error messages are logged by application servers, captured in monitoring tools like Prometheus or Grafana, or returned directly to end-users if not properly sanitized at the presentation layer. Consequently, any entity with access to these logs or HTTP responses can extract the plaintext password embedded within the exception payload. This is particularly dangerous because administrative passwords often possess broad privileges across message queues and exchanges, allowing an attacker who obtains them to read sensitive messages, modify routing configurations, or potentially achieve remote code execution depending on how downstream consumers process incoming data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential theft. It undermines the principle of least privilege by exposing high-level access tokens in a manner that is easily automatable for attackers performing reconnaissance. If an attacker gains read access to application logs through log aggregation systems, CI/CD pipelines, or even local file system access on compromised hosts, they can parse these exceptions to harvest credentials without needing to exploit additional vulnerabilities. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry for subsequent attacks such as unauthorized message injection, denial of service via queue manipulation, or lateral movement within a microservices architecture that relies heavily on RabbitMQ for inter-service communication. The persistence of this issue across multiple major versions indicates a systemic design oversight in how Spring AMQP handles error reporting during health checks rather than an isolated coding mistake.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-209, which describes the generation of an error message that includes sensitive information, and CWE-532, concerning log forking or injection if logs are not properly sanitized before storage. In terms of offensive security frameworks, this behavior facilitates ATT&CK technique T1078, Valid Accounts, by allowing adversaries to acquire legitimate credentials through passive observation rather than active exploitation. It also relates to T1504, Weak or Compromised Authentication Credentials, as the exposure compromises the integrity of the authentication mechanism itself. The severity is further amplified in cloud-native environments where logs are frequently centralized and accessible to a wide range of services and monitoring agents that may not have strict access controls on sensitive fields.
Mitigation strategies must address both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. For organizations running affected versions, upgrading Spring AMQP to the latest stable release is the primary recommendation, as newer iterations typically implement stricter error masking policies for health check endpoints. If an upgrade is not immediately feasible, developers should implement custom exception handlers or log filters that specifically strip out password fields from any thrown exceptions before they are logged or returned over HTTP. Additionally, application configuration should avoid embedding plaintext passwords in connection factory properties where possible; instead, use environment variables with restricted access or integrate with external secret management solutions like HashiCorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager to reduce the risk of exposure even if logging occurs. Regular auditing of log outputs and monitoring for patterns resembling exception traces containing password-like strings can help detect potential exploitation attempts early in an attack lifecycle.