CVE-2026-61397 in CloudStack
Summary
by MITRE • 08/21/2026
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability in Apache CloudStack's OAuth2 authentication plugin and Google OAuth integration.
This issue affects Apache CloudStack: from 4.19.0.0 through 4.20.3.0 and from 4.21.0.0 through 4.22.1.0.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.20.3.1 or 4.22.1.1, which fixes the issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/21/2026
The vulnerability identified in Apache CloudStack represents a critical failure in data handling practices within its OAuth2 authentication plugin and Google OAuth integration modules. This flaw falls under the category of Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor, commonly referenced as CWE-209 in industry standards for software weakness enumeration. The core technical issue stems from improper sanitization or filtering mechanisms that allow sensitive user credentials, tokens, or personally identifiable information to be inadvertently exposed during the authentication handshake process. When users interact with the Google OAuth integration, the application fails to adequately mask or restrict access to internal state variables and response payloads before they are transmitted back to the client or logged by intermediate systems. This lack of strict data validation allows an attacker who gains unauthorized access to network traffic or server logs to extract confidential authentication artifacts that should remain strictly within the secure boundary of the identity provider and the cloud management platform.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations relying on Apache CloudStack for infrastructure-as-a-service deployments. By exploiting this flaw, a malicious actor can intercept sensitive information such as OAuth access tokens, refresh tokens, or user session identifiers during the authentication flow. These credentials are often long-lived and possess broad permissions within the cloud environment. Consequently, an attacker could use these stolen artifacts to impersonate legitimate users, bypass multi-factor authentication controls if they were tied to the initial login event, and gain unauthorized administrative privileges over virtual machines, storage volumes, and network configurations. This effectively compromises the confidentiality and integrity of the entire cloud infrastructure managed by Apache CloudStack, potentially leading to data exfiltration, lateral movement within the private cloud, or complete system compromise depending on the scope of permissions held by the compromised account.
This vulnerability aligns with several tactics in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly those related to Credential Access and Discovery. The exposure of sensitive information facilitates unauthorized access which is a precursor to more advanced attacks such as Account Manipulation or Persistence mechanisms within the cloud environment. Attackers can leverage these exposed tokens to maintain persistent access without needing to re-authenticate through standard login portals that might have additional security controls like CAPTCHA or IP-based rate limiting. The flaw highlights a broader challenge in integrating third-party identity providers where the trust boundary between the application and the external OAuth service must be strictly enforced, yet often fails due to implementation errors in how responses are processed and stored locally by the cloud management software.
To mitigate this risk, organizations running affected versions of Apache CloudStack should immediately upgrade to version 4.20.3.1 or 4.22.1.1, as these releases contain specific patches that address the data exposure flaw in the OAuth2 plugin and Google integration modules. In addition to upgrading, administrators should enforce strict network segmentation for management interfaces and ensure that all administrative traffic is encrypted using TLS with strong cipher suites to prevent passive eavesdropping on authentication flows. It is also recommended to implement comprehensive logging and monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous patterns in token usage or unusual login locations associated with OAuth integrations. Regular audits of access logs should be conducted to identify any potential exploitation attempts where sensitive data might have been intercepted during the vulnerability window prior to patching.