CVE-2026-75015 in Syncope
Summary
by MITRE • 09/14/2026
Insufficiently Protected Credentials vulnerability in Apache Syncope.
Audit events, when sent to the configured store, are not sufficiently masked for the sensitive values they might carry on their payloads, thus allowing administrators to access such sensitive values.
This issue affects Apache Syncope: from 3.0.0-M0 through 3.0.16, from 4.0.0-M0 Through 4.0.7, from 4.1.0-M0 through 4.1.2.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 4.0.8 / 4.1.3, which fix this issue.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/16/2026
The vulnerability identified in Apache Syncope represents a critical failure in the handling of sensitive data within audit logging mechanisms, specifically categorized under CWE-522 as Insufficiently Protected Credentials. This flaw arises from an architectural oversight where the system fails to adequately mask or redact high-sensitivity values contained within event payloads before they are persisted to the configured audit store. In identity and access management systems like Apache Syncope, audit logs serve as a primary source of truth for security monitoring, forensic analysis, and compliance reporting. Consequently, these logs often contain detailed records of authentication attempts, privilege escalations, and configuration changes that inherently include sensitive information such as passwords, secret keys, or other credentials used during the authenticated session.
When an administrator accesses the audit log storage to review historical events, the lack of proper masking allows them to view plaintext versions of these sensitive values. This exposure occurs because the logging component does not apply sufficient obfuscation techniques, such as hashing, tokenization, or character replacement, to fields identified as containing credentials. As a result, any user with read access to the audit logs can extract valid authentication material that was transmitted during system operations. This undermines the principle of least privilege and compromises the confidentiality of secrets managed by the identity provider, potentially allowing malicious actors who gain administrative access to leverage these exposed credentials for further lateral movement or unauthorized access to downstream systems.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability significantly elevates the risk profile of Apache Syncope deployments. Attackers with compromised administrator accounts can harvest plaintext passwords and secret keys directly from audit trails without needing to exploit additional vulnerabilities in authentication mechanisms. This capability aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078, Valid Accounts, as it facilitates unauthorized access through stolen credentials derived from log inspection rather than brute force or phishing. Furthermore, the exposure of secrets stored within logs violates common compliance requirements found in standards such as PCI DSS and HIPAA, which mandate strict controls over the storage and display of sensitive authentication data. The persistence of these plaintext values in long-term audit stores creates a prolonged window of vulnerability where historical credentials remain exposed to anyone with log access privileges.
The affected versions span multiple release lines, including Apache Syncope 3.0.x from version 3.0.0-M0 through 3.0.16 and the newer 4.0.x line from 4.0.0-M0 through 4.0.7, as well as the 4.1.x branch from 4.1.0-M0 through 4.1.2. This broad range of affected versions indicates that the flaw was present across significant development cycles before being recognized and addressed by the project maintainers. Organizations running any of these versions are at immediate risk if their audit logging configuration directs sensitive payloads to accessible storage locations without additional external masking layers.
To mitigate this vulnerability, users must upgrade Apache Syncope to version 4.0.8 or later for the 4.0 branch and version 4.1.3 or later for the 4.1 branch. These releases incorporate fixes that ensure sensitive values within audit event payloads are properly masked before being written to the log store. In addition to upgrading, administrators should review their logging configurations to ensure that only necessary fields are logged and consider implementing additional security controls such as encrypting audit logs at rest or restricting access to audit storage through strict role-based access control policies. Regular rotation of credentials exposed in previous unpatched versions is also recommended to eliminate any residual risk from previously captured plaintext secrets.