Authentication Bypass in neo4j (CVE-2026-1524)
Summary
Authentication bypass in neo4j (CVE-2026-1524). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.26.22, 2026.2.0 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
An edgecase in SSO implementation in Neo4j Enterprise edition versions prior to version 2026.02 can lead to unauthorised access under the following conditions:
If a neo4j admin configures two or more OIDC providers AND configures one or more of them to be an authorization provider AND configures one or more of them to be authentication-only, then those that are authentication-only will also provide authorization. This edgecase becomes a security problem only if the authentication-only provider contains groups which have higher privileges than provided by the intended (configured) authorization provider.
When using multiple plugins for authentication and authorisation, prior to the fix the issue could lead to a plugin configured to provide only authentication or authorisation capabilities erroneously providing both capabilities.
We recommend upgrading to versions 2026.02 (or 5.26.22) where the issue is fixed.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-1524 has been found in neo4j.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 9.8/10.
What to do: upgrade neo4j to 5.26.22, 2026.2.0 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "neo4j CVE-2026-1524" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-1524 (neo4j) — CWE-287 / CVSS v3 9.8
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated / no user interaction
Patched: 5.26.22, 2026.2.0 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
Authentication bypass (CWE-287) exists in neo4j.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of neo4j.
Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to 5.26.22, 2026.2.0.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'neo4j' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
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1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'neo4j' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
neo4jを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade neo4j to 5.26.22, 2026.2.0ステージング環境で 5.26.22, 2026.2.0 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
References
- advisory neo4j.com
- web nvd.nist.gov
- web github.com