Spring GrpcFramework / library · VMware
CVE-2026-40968
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedWhen an authenticated user is denied access to a gRPC method, their authenticated identity remains bound to the gRPC worker thread and can be inherited by a subsequent unauthenticated request on the same thread. This may allow the subsequent user to gain escalated permissions. Affected versions: Spring gRPC: 1.0.0 - 1.0.2 (fixed in 1.0.3). Older, unsupported versions are also affected.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis is a thread-local identity leakage vulnerability in Spring gRPC where an authenticated user's identity persists on a worker thread after a denied gRPC method call. When a subsequent unauthenticated request is processed by the same thread, it inherits the previous user's authenticated identity, resulting in privilege escalation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Spring GrpcFramework / library
< 1.0.3CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify Spring gRPC dependencySearch project dependencies (pom.xml, build.gradle, or lib folder) for spring-grpc, grpc-spring-boot-starter, or similar Spring gRPC librariesAffected if Spring gRPC library is present in the project dependencies
-
Determine Spring gRPC versionCheck the version of the Spring gRPC dependency in your build configuration or compiled library JAR (e.g., spring-grpc-1.x.jar). Compare against the affected range: versions before 1.0.3Affected if The installed Spring gRPC version is lower than 1.0.3
-
Verify gRPC authentication is enabledInspect application configuration files (application.yml, application.properties) or Java configuration classes for gRPC server settings. Look for security, authentication, or authorization configuration blocks under grpc.server or similar namespaceAffected if gRPC server has authentication or authorization mechanisms configured and enabled
-
Check for thread pool usage in gRPC serviceReview gRPC server thread pool configuration. Look for custom Executor or thread pool bean definitions used by gRPC servers. Inspect whether requests can be processed by reused worker threadsAffected if gRPC service uses a shared thread pool where worker threads can handle multiple sequential requests (standard gRPC configuration)
-
Confirm thread-local identity storageSearch codebase for ThreadLocal or WrappedThreadLocal usage related to authentication, security context, or user identity within gRPC request handling code. Inspect authentication filter or interceptor implementationsAffected if Application uses thread-local storage to maintain authenticated user identity during gRPC request processing
User is affected if Spring gRPC version is below 1.0.3 AND the application uses gRPC with authentication enabled and processes requests on shared worker threads, allowing stale thread-local identity to persist across requests.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped1.0.3
Upgrade Spring gRPC to version 1.0.3 or later, which includes the fix to properly clear thread-local identity state after request completion. Verify authentication/authorization behavior after the upgrade.
1.0.3
- Update the Spring Grpc dependency in your build configuration (Maven pom.xml or Gradle build.gradle) to version 1.0.3 or later
- For Maven, change the version in the dependency management section to: <groupId>org.springframework.grpc</groupId><artifactId>spring-grpc</artifactId><version>1.0.3</version>
- For Gradle, update to: implementation 'org.springframework.grpc:spring-grpc:1.0.3'
- Rebuild and redeploy your application to apply the updated dependency
- Verify that gRPC authorization checks properly clear authentication context after denied requests
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Spring Grpc
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,840.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-40968 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-40968 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data