CVE-2026-75015 Overview
CVE-2026-75015 is an Insufficiently Protected Credentials vulnerability [CWE-522] in Apache Syncope. Audit events sent to the configured audit store are not sufficiently masked for sensitive values carried in their payloads. Administrators with access to the audit store can read credentials and other sensitive data that should have been redacted.
The issue affects Apache Syncope from 3.0.0-M0 through 3.0.16, from 4.0.0-M0 through 4.0.7, and from 4.1.0-M0 through 4.1.2. Upgrading to 4.0.8 or 4.1.3 fixes the flaw.
Critical Impact
Administrators can access unmasked sensitive values, including credentials, from Apache Syncope audit event payloads stored in the configured audit backend.
Affected Products
- Apache Syncope 3.0.0-M0 through 3.0.16
- Apache Syncope 4.0.0-M0 through 4.0.7
- Apache Syncope 4.1.0-M0 through 4.1.2
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-09-14 - CVE-2026-75015 published to NVD
- 2026-09-14 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2026-75015
Vulnerability Analysis
Apache Syncope is an open-source identity management system that provisions users, groups, and entitlements across enterprise systems. It emits audit events describing administrative and identity operations, and these events are written to a configured audit store such as a database or log destination.
The vulnerability arises because the audit pipeline does not consistently mask sensitive fields before serializing event payloads. Attributes that Syncope treats as confidential elsewhere, including passwords, tokens, and security answers, can appear in cleartext within stored audit records. Any administrator with read access to the audit backend can then retrieve those values.
The flaw does not require network exploitation of Syncope itself. It converts an intended audit trail into a durable secondary store of secrets, expanding the blast radius of any administrator account compromise or backup exposure.
Root Cause
The root cause is insufficient sanitization of audit event payloads before persistence. Sensitive attributes handled by Syncope's identity workflows are serialized into audit records without applying the masking that is applied in other administrative surfaces, producing an Insufficiently Protected Credentials condition [CWE-522].
Attack Vector
Exploitation requires an authenticated actor with high privileges, specifically an administrator or an account with read access to the configured audit store. The attacker queries stored audit events and extracts unmasked credential values from event payloads. No user interaction is required, and confidentiality of secrets stored in Syncope is directly impacted.
See the Apache Mailing List Thread and the Openwall OSS-Security Discussion for the vendor advisory details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2026-75015
Indicators of Compromise
- Audit event records in the configured Syncope audit store containing cleartext password, token, or secret fields within event payloads.
- Unexpected administrator queries or exports against the audit store or its underlying database tables.
- Backup archives or log shipments that contain Syncope audit payloads with unmasked credential attributes.
Detection Strategies
- Scan the audit store for payload fields that match known credential attribute names used by Syncope provisioning operations.
- Review administrative access logs on the audit backend for read activity that does not correlate with legitimate audit review workflows.
- Correlate provisioning and password-change operations with audit event contents to identify records that retained sensitive values.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Alert on bulk reads or exports of the Syncope audit tables or log streams.
- Monitor Syncope version strings exposed by administrative endpoints and flag hosts still running affected 3.0.x, 4.0.x, or 4.1.x releases below the fixed versions.
- Track downstream consumers of audit data, such as SIEM forwarders, for ingestion of records that contain credential-shaped payloads.
How to Mitigate CVE-2026-75015
Immediate Actions Required
- Upgrade Apache Syncope to version 4.0.8 or 4.1.3 as recommended by the project.
- Rotate any credentials, tokens, or secrets that may have been recorded in existing audit events on affected deployments.
- Restrict access to the audit store to the minimum set of administrators required and enable access auditing on that backend.
- Purge or re-encrypt historical audit records that contain unmasked sensitive values once affected systems are patched.
Patch Information
The Apache Syncope project addressed the issue in versions 4.0.8 and 4.1.3. Deployments on the 3.0.x branch should plan migration to a fixed release line, as the advisory identifies fixes only in the 4.0.8 and 4.1.3 versions. Refer to the Apache Mailing List Thread for the official announcement.
Workarounds
- Disable or narrow the scope of audit events that carry sensitive payload attributes until the upgrade is applied.
- Route audit output to a storage tier with encryption at rest and strict administrator segregation.
- Apply database-level column masking or view restrictions on the audit tables to limit which administrators can read raw payload content.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
