CVE-2026-75053 in IntelliJ IDEA
Summary
by MITRE • 08/17/2026
In JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA before 2026.2.1 sSRF was possible via the DevKit debug listener endpoint
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/17/2026
The vulnerability identified in JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA prior to version 2026.2.1 represents a significant security flaw within the integrated development environment's internal communication mechanisms, specifically targeting the Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) capabilities exposed through the DevKit debug listener endpoint. This issue arises from insufficient validation of user-supplied input directed at an administrative interface that is intended for local debugging and plugin development purposes. By manipulating the target URL or resource identifier sent to this specific endpoint, a malicious actor can coerce the application into making HTTP requests to arbitrary destinations on behalf of the running process. This type of vulnerability exploits the trust relationship between the IDE and its internal services, allowing an attacker to bypass standard network access controls that would typically restrict outbound connections from desktop applications.
From a technical perspective, the flaw resides in how the DevKit debug listener processes incoming requests without adequately sanitizing or validating the destination addresses specified by the caller. In many modern development tools, local servers are bound to loopback interfaces to prevent external access; however, if these endpoints accept parameters that dictate where subsequent internal requests should be directed, they become vectors for SSRF attacks. An attacker who gains the ability to execute code within the context of the IDE or interact with its debug interface can craft a request that forces IntelliJ IDEA to fetch resources from internal network locations, cloud metadata services, or other sensitive backend systems accessible by the host machine. This capability effectively turns the development tool into a proxy for unauthorized network reconnaissance and data exfiltration.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial, particularly in enterprise environments where developers access corporate intranets, private APIs, or internal microservices from their workstations. Through successful exploitation, an adversary could potentially map out the internal network topology by probing various IP addresses and ports to determine which services are active and responsive. More critically, if cloud metadata endpoints such as those found on AWS EC2 instances (e.g., 169.254.169.254) or similar infrastructure in other cloud providers are accessible from the victim's network segment, the attacker could retrieve sensitive authentication credentials, IAM roles, and configuration data stored within these metadata services. This leads to a complete compromise of the underlying infrastructure associated with that machine, as stolen tokens can be used to escalate privileges and access additional resources beyond the initial scope of the IDE itself.
This vulnerability aligns closely with Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) categories such as CWE-918 Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), which describes flaws where a web application retrieves a remote resource without validating the user-supplied URL, and CWE-20 Improper Input Validation, indicating that the input data was not sufficiently checked before being processed. In terms of offensive security frameworks, this exploit technique corresponds to MITRE ATT&CK tactics related to Discovery and Credential Access, specifically leveraging local proxy or application behavior to pivot into internal networks and harvest credentials from cloud metadata services. The attack vector is typically classified as Local because it requires the attacker to have some level of access to execute code within the IDE environment or manipulate its input channels directly.
To mitigate this risk, organizations should ensure that all JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA installations are updated to version 2026.2.1 or later, where these validation checks and restrictions on internal request routing have been implemented by the vendor. For environments where immediate patching is not feasible, network segmentation strategies can provide a layer of defense; specifically, restricting outbound traffic from developer workstations to only known external domains while blocking access to private IP ranges and cloud metadata endpoints via firewall rules or host-based security policies can significantly reduce the blast radius of such an exploit. Additionally, enforcing strict least-privilege principles for user accounts running development tools ensures that even if SSRF is achieved, the potential damage from accessing sensitive internal resources remains limited by existing permission boundaries.