CVE-2026-102490

Zammad GmbH · Zammad · Zammad GmbH Zammad Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability

Verdict
Patch soon · actively exploited, reachable from the internet without credentials, and in the upper half of CVEs by near-term exploitation probability

Added to CISA KEV 2026-10-02 · exploited in the wild for 6 days

How a test catches it

Test

For each privileged operation, establish what the caller is required to hold, then attempt the operation with a role that should not have it - including a role reached through delegation rather than direct assignment.

Passes when

The operation checks the caller's own authorisation rather than the interface's, and no path reaches it with less than the documented privilege. A role that inherits the right by accident fails the same way a missing check does.

What an attacker can reach How likely Time What CISA says to do Sources All 548

What an attacker can reach

CVSS 9.4 CRITICAL. The score is a summary; these three components are the part that decides whether something scanning the internet can use it.

Attack vector	networkreachable over the network, with no local access needed
Privileges required	noneneeds no credentials at all
User interaction	passiveneeds a user to click, load or submit something first
Base vector	CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:A/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:Y/R:X/V:C/RE:X/U:X
Weakness	CWE-269

This describes the vulnerability. It says nothing about whether your systems run it.

How likely

EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.0058, which places it in the upper half of all tracked CVEs. The percentile is the more useful half: 0.18 in absolute terms sounds low until you know most of the internet-facing software in the world scores under that.

EPSS probability	0.0058
Percentile	0.459 — upper half

Time

Added to KEV	2026-10-02
Days exploited	6
Federal remediation due	not set
Ransomware use	no known ransomware campaign use

What CISA says to do

Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.

All versions of Zammad including the latest alpha enable the local zammad user to escalate privileges to root.

Sources

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — exploited status, dates, required action
NVD — CVSS vector, weakness, references
csirt.divd.nl/CVE-2026-102490
csirt.divd.nl/DIVD-2026-00015
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-
FIRST EPSS record — probability and percentile

This page describes the bug, not your estate. It cannot tell you whether you run it, or whether your own systems carry the same class of flaw. That question is what an assessment answers.

Web application penetration testing · API security testing · every service