Temporal up to 1.27.3/1.28.1/1.29.1 StartWorkflowExecutionRequest Namespace authorization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Temporal up to 1.27.3/1.28.1/1.29.1. This impacts the function StartWorkflowExecutionRequest. The manipulation of the argument Namespace leads to authorization. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2025-14986. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Temporal up to 1.27.3/1.28.1/1.29.1. This issue affects the function StartWorkflowExecutionRequest. The manipulation of the argument Namespace with an unknown input leads to a authorization vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-863. The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. This allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

When frontend.enableExecuteMultiOperation is enabled, the server can apply namespace-scoped validation and feature gates for the embedded StartWorkflowExecutionRequest using its Namespace field rather than the outer, authorized ExecuteMultiOperationRequest.Namespace. This allows a caller authorized for one namespace to bypass that namespace's limits/policies by setting the embedded start request's namespace to a different namespace. The workflow is still created in the outer (authorized) namespace; only validation/gating is performed under the wrong namespace context. This issue affects Temporal: from 1.24.0 through 1.29.1. Fixed in 1.27.4, 1.28.2, 1.29.2.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-14986 since 12/19/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 1.27.4 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2025-205854). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Name

• Temporal

Version

• 1.27.0
• 1.27.1
• 1.27.2
• 1.27.3
• 1.28.0
• 1.28.1
• 1.29.0
• 1.29.1

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion