SCA: security update for org.apache.polaris:polaris-core (GHSA-fc3h-c6h7-r83j)

critical Tenable Cloud Security Plugin ID 441559

Description

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

- In plain terms, Apache Polaris is supposed to issue short-lived GCS credentials that only work for one
table's files, but a crafted namespace or table name can cause those credentials to work across the
configured bucket instead. Apache Polaris builds Google Cloud Storage downscoped credentials by creating a
Credential Access Boundary (CAB) with CEL conditions that are intended to restrict access to the requested
table's storage path. The relevant CEL string is built from the bucket name and the table path. That table
path is derived from namespace and table identifiers. In current code, that path appears to be inserted
into the CEL expression without escaping. As a result, a namespace or table identifier containing a single
quote and other URI-safe CEL fragments can break out of the intended quoted string and change the meaning
of the CEL condition. In private testing against Polaris 1.4.0 on real Google Cloud Storage, it was
confirmed that Polaris accepted a crafted identifier and returned delegated GCS credentials whose CEL path
restriction had effectively collapsed. Those delegated credentials could then: - list another table's
object prefix; - read another table's metadata control file (Iceberg metadata JSON); - create and delete
an object under another table's object prefix; - and also list, read, create, and delete objects under an
unrelated external prefix in the same bucket that was not part of any table path. That last point is
important. The issue is not limited to "another table". In the confirmed setup, once Apache Polaris
returned credentials for the crafted table, the path restriction inside the configured bucket was
effectively gone. The practical effect is that temporary credentials for one crafted table can be broader
than the table Polaris was asked to authorize, and can become effectively bucket-wide within the
configured bucket. The current GCS testing used a Polaris principal with broad catalog privileges for
setup. A separate least-privilege Polaris RBAC variant has not yet been tested on GCS. However, the
storage-credential broadening behavior itself has been confirmed on GCS. (CVE-2026-42811)

Solution

Update the org.apache.polaris:polaris-core library and its related packages to version 1.4.1 or later.

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 441559

Version: Revision 1.3

Type: Local

Family: SCA Checks

Published: 5/8/2026

Updated: 6/1/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.7

Percentile: 99.07

Vendor

Vendor Severity: Critical

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 9

Temporal Score: 6.7

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-42811

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.9

Temporal Score: 8.6

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

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

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.4

Threat Score: 7.7

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H

Vulnerability Information

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 5/4/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 5/4/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-42811

cwe: CWE-20

Detections

Analytics