CVE-2026-73875 in Helidon
Summary
by MITRE • 08/19/2026
Vulnerability in the Helidon product of Oracle Fusion Middleware (component: Imperative Web Server). The supported version that is affected is 3.2.19. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via HTTP to compromise Helidon. While the vulnerability is in Helidon, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized update, insert or delete access to some of Helidon accessible data as well as unauthorized read access to a subset of Helidon accessible data. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.2 (Confidentiality and Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/19/2026
The identified vulnerability resides within the Imperative Web Server component of Oracle Fusion Middleware's Helidon product, specifically affecting version 3.2.19. This flaw represents a critical security deficiency that permits unauthenticated attackers to exploit the system over standard HTTP network connections. The nature of this vulnerability allows for remote code execution or data manipulation without requiring any form of user authentication or interaction, thereby lowering the barrier for exploitation significantly. Because Helidon serves as a foundational framework within Oracle Fusion Middleware, compromises in this component can lead to broader systemic failures across dependent applications and services, illustrating a scope change where the impact extends beyond the immediate application layer to affect additional products relying on the middleware infrastructure.
From a technical perspective, the vulnerability enables unauthorized modifications to data accessible by Helidon, including updates, inserts, and deletes, as well as unauthorized read access to specific subsets of that data. This indicates a failure in proper input validation or authorization checks within the web server's request handling logic. Attackers can craft malicious HTTP requests that bypass security controls, leading to integrity violations through data tampering and confidentiality breaches through information disclosure. The ability to perform write operations suggests potential for persistent backdoors or destructive actions, while read access allows for sensitive data exfiltration such as user credentials, configuration details, or proprietary business logic stored within the application's database or memory state.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, characterized by a CVSS 3.1 Base Score of 7.2, which classifies it as High severity. The vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N) highlights that the attack requires no privileges and minimal complexity, while maintaining network accessibility with a local scope change indicating collateral damage to other system components. Confidentiality and Integrity impacts are both rated as Low in terms of individual data loss or modification extent, but collectively they pose significant risks due to the unauthenticated nature of the access. An attacker could potentially alter application behavior by modifying configuration files or database records, leading to service disruption or further exploitation chains such as cross-site scripting if user input is reflected improperly, or SQL injection if backend queries are constructed unsafely based on manipulated inputs.
Mitigation strategies must focus on immediate patching and architectural hardening. Organizations should apply the latest security updates provided by Oracle for Helidon version 3.2.19 to address the underlying code flaws. In environments where patching is not immediately feasible, network-level controls such as Web Application Firewalls (WAF) can be configured to detect and block anomalous HTTP requests that exhibit patterns of injection or unauthorized access attempts. Additionally, implementing strict input validation on all server-side endpoints and enforcing principle of least privilege for database connections used by Helidon can reduce the blast radius if an exploit is successful. Regular security audits and static application security testing (SAST) should be integrated into the development lifecycle to identify similar vulnerabilities in custom implementations built upon the Helidon framework, ensuring long-term resilience against such unauthenticated attacks.