CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-1524 — Neo4J Neo4J security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

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.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2026-03-11
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-287, CWE-863

Affected products

  • neo4j / neo4j

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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