Critical

Apache Polaris has an Improper Input Validation Issue

  • Disclosed: 04.05.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 12:22

Apache Polaris can issue broad temporary ("vended") storage credentials during staged table creation before the effective table location has been validated or durably reserved. Those temporary credentials are meant to limit the scope of accessible table data and metadata, but this scope limitation becomes attacker-directed because the attacker can choose a reachable target location.

In the confirmed variant, if the caller supplies a custom location during stage create and requests credential vending, Apache Polaris uses that location to construct delegated storage credentials immediately. The stage-create path itself neither runs the normal location validation nor the overlap checks before those credentials are issued.

Closely related to that, the staged-create flow also accepts write.data.path / write.metadata.path in the request properties and feeds those location overrides into the same effective table location set used for credential vending. Those fields are secondary to the main custom-location exploit, but they are still attacker-influenced location inputs that should be validated before any credentials are issued.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) org.apache.polaris:polaris-runtime-service < 1.4.1 1.4.1

References

CVSS score 9.9/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-20
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
org.apache.polaris:polaris-runtime-service
Disclosed
04.05.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 12:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-8ggj-j522-h5qf - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: org.apache.polaris:polaris-runtime-service

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
2
First → latest
05.2026 05.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 2

Disclosures per year

  1. 2026: 2
  1. Critical · 9.9 CVE-2026-42812 >= 0.9.0, < 1.4.1 1.4.1
  2. Apache Polaris has an Improper Input Validation Issue this entry
    Critical · 9.9 CVE-2026-42809 < 1.4.1 1.4.1

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