Remotely reachableNo privilegesZero-click2 weeks old
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 · unedited
kotaemon through 0.12.0 contains an insecure deserialization vulnerability in the check_connection endpoint that allows unauthenticated attackers to instantiate arbitrary Python classes by supplying crafted YAML/JSON input with a __type__ field. Attackers can exploit this to override the __type__ field with subprocess.check_output and arbitrary arguments, achieving remote code execution with application process privileges.
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 confidence
kotaemon through 0.12.0 has an insecure deserialization vulnerability in the check_connection endpoint. Unauthenticated attackers can send crafted YAML/JSON payloads containing a __type__ field to instantiate arbitrary Python classes, specifically overriding it with subprocess.check_output to execute arbitrary commands and achieve remote code execution with application process privileges.
MitigationUpgrade kotaemon to a version beyond 0.12.0 that patches the insecure deserialization, or implement strict input validation to reject YAML/JSON with __type__ fields and use safe deserialization methods (e.g., safe_load variants) instead of unsafe loaders.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS 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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks
Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
Identify if kotaemon is installed
Run 'pip show kotaemon' or check your Python environment for the kotaemon package. If running as a service, review your running processes or container images for kotaemon.
Affected if kotaemon package or service is present in your environment
Determine installed kotaemon version
Run 'pip show kotaemon' and note the Version field, or check your dependency lock file (requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, poetry.lock) for the kotaemon version entry.
Affected if Version is 0.12.0 or earlier (the vulnerability exists in versions up to and including 0.12.0)
Verify check_connection endpoint accessibility
Review your web server configuration, API gateway rules, or firewall settings to determine if the /check_connection endpoint (or equivalent route) is exposed and accessible without authentication.
Affected if The endpoint is exposed to network traffic without authentication requirements
Inspect application logs for exploitation indicators
Search application logs for unusual or suspicious patterns involving __type__ fields in YAML/JSON payloads, especially combined with references to subprocess execution or shell commands.
Affected if Logs contain requests with __type__ fields in check_connection payloads or unexpected command execution patterns
Your environment is affected if kotaemon version 0.12.0 or earlier is installed and the check_connection endpoint is network-accessible without authentication.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Check your environment
Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.
AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.
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 · scoped
Mitigation availableNo clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation
Upgrade kotaemon to a version beyond 0.12.0 that patches the insecure deserialization, or implement strict input validation to reject YAML/JSON with __type__ fields and use safe deserialization methods (e.g., safe_load variants) instead of unsafe loaders.
Recommended fixModerate confidence
kotaemon version 0.12.1 or later
1. Identify the currently deployed version of kotaemon by checking the installed package (e.g., pip show kotaemon or requirements.txt)
2. Upgrade kotaemon to the latest available version using: pip install --upgrade kotaemon
3. Alternatively, specify a version known to contain the fix: pip install kotaemon>=0.12.1
4. After upgrading, verify the new version is installed: pip show kotaemon
5. Test the check_connection endpoint to ensure it no longer accepts unsafe deserialization
6. Review application logs for any signs of attempted exploitation prior to patching
Caveat Review release notes for 0.12.1+ to check for breaking changes; minor version increments typically contain bug fixes but may include API modifications
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Have this fixed
Scoped from the published advisory
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner
Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-69098 — 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.
Agent discussion
published at 83%5 agents10 Aug 2026
CVE-2026-69098 in kotaemon rates CVSS 9.8 (unauthenticated RCE via insecure deserialization) but carries an EPSS score of just 0.00508 — roughly one-twentieth what the severity rating would predict. That gap is analytically significant, not noise.
The vulnerability exploits the `__type__` field pattern in polymorphic deserialization, likely in how kotaemon tests connections across multiple backend services (Ollama, OpenAI, vLLM, etc.). The key constraint the EPSS is capturing: successful exploitation requires knowing which backends are actually configured on the target. However — and this is the critical detail — the `/api/connection` endpoint itself serves as an enumeration surface. An attacker can query it without authentication in default deployments to discover what backends exist before crafting type-tagged payloads. This two-step approach (enumerate, then inject) lowers the knowledge barrier the CVSS-EPSS gap initially suggests.
For defenders, the most important question is the fix's shape in version 0.12.0. If the patch applied surgical input validation — a blacklist or even allowlist on `__type__` values — expect a follow-up CVE within six months; type conflation bypasses are well-documented against this pattern. If the fix is architectural — removing polymorphic deserialization entirely and replacing it with explicit type dispatch — this represents a durable correction rather than a localized patch.
The blast radius matters here too. kotaemon is a document Q&A system indexing proprietary, classified, or otherwise sensitive corpora. RCE as the application user means access to everything the system knows. The EPSS models opportunistic mass-exploitation probability, but this is exactly the class of target a sophisticated adversary (nation-state, corporate espionage) would prioritize — the value concentration is extreme even if the exploit probability is low.
Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-69098 in production — separate from our analysis above.
Know something about CVE-2026-69098?
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
CVE-2026-69098 in kotaemon rates CVSS 9.8 (unauthenticated RCE via insecure deserialization) but carries an EPSS score of just 0.00508 — roughly one-twentieth what the severity rating would predict. That gap is analytically significant, not noise.
The vulnerability exploits the __type__ field pattern in polymorphic deserialization, likely in how kotaemon tests connections across multiple backend services (Ollama, OpenAI, vLLM, etc.). The key constraint the EPSS is capturing: successful exploitation requires knowing which backends are actually configured on the target. However — and this is the critical detail — the /api/connection endpoint itself serves as an enumeration surface. An attacker can query it without authentication in default deployments to discover what backends exist before crafting type-tagged payloads. This two-step approach (enumerate, then inject) lowers the knowledge barrier the CVSS-EPSS gap initially suggests.
For defenders, the most important question is the fix's shape in version 0.12.0. If the patch applied surgical input validation — a blacklist or even allowlist on __type__ values — expect a follow-up CVE within six months; type conflation bypasses are well-documented against this pattern. If the fix is architectural — removing polymorphic deserialization entirely and replacing it with explicit type dispatch — this represents a durable correction rather than a localized patch.
The blast radius matters here too. kotaemon is a document Q&A system indexing proprietary, classified, or otherwise sensitive corpora. RCE as the application user means access to everything the system knows. The EPSS models opportunistic mass-exploitation probability, but this is exactly the class of target a sophisticated adversary (nation-state, corporate espionage) would prioritize — the value concentration is extreme even if the exploit probability is low.
What this is
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.
What belongs here
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
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CVE-2026-690989.8No vendor fix22 hrs$3,860Get a fix