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SCA: security update for google.golang.org/grpc (GHSA-p77j-4mvh-x3m3)

critical Tenable Cloud Security Plugin ID 438972

Description

There are packages installed that are affected by a vulnerability referenced in the following CVE:

 - gRPC-Go is the Go language implementation of gRPC. Versions prior to 1.79.3 have an authorization bypass
 resulting from improper input validation of the HTTP/2 `:path` pseudo-header. The gRPC-Go server was too
 lenient in its routing logic, accepting requests where the `:path` omitted the mandatory leading slash
 (e.g., `Service/Method` instead of `/Service/Method`). While the server successfully routed these requests
 to the correct handler, authorization interceptors (including the official `grpc/authz` package) evaluated
 the raw, non-canonical path string. Consequently, "deny" rules defined using canonical paths (starting
 with `/`) failed to match the incoming request, allowing it to bypass the policy if a fallback "allow"
 rule was present. This affects gRPC-Go servers that use path-based authorization interceptors, such as the
 official RBAC implementation in `google.golang.org/grpc/authz` or custom interceptors relying on
 `info.FullMethod` or `grpc.Method(ctx)`; AND that have a security policy contains specific "deny" rules
 for canonical paths but allows other requests by default (a fallback "allow" rule). The vulnerability is
 exploitable by an attacker who can send raw HTTP/2 frames with malformed `:path` headers directly to the
 gRPC server. The fix in version 1.79.3 ensures that any request with a `:path` that does not start with a
 leading slash is immediately rejected with a `codes.Unimplemented` error, preventing it from reaching
 authorization interceptors or handlers with a non-canonical path string. While upgrading is the most
 secure and recommended path, users can mitigate the vulnerability using one of the following methods: Use
 a validating interceptor (recommended mitigation); infrastructure-level normalization; and/or policy
 hardening. (CVE-2026-33186)

Solution

Update the google.golang.org/grpc library and its related packages to version 1.79.3 or later.

See Also

https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-p77j-4mvh-x3m3

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 438972

Version: Revision 1.5

Type: Local

Family: SCA Checks

Published: 3/19/2026

Updated: 7/2/2026

Supported Sensors: Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.3

Percentile: 96.81

Vendor

Vendor Severity: Critical

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 9.4

Temporal Score: 7.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-33186

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.1

Temporal Score: 8.2

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 3/18/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 3/18/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-33186

cwe: CWE-285