Skip to content

Juju has a resource poisoning vulnerability

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Apr 1, 2026 in juju/juju • Updated Apr 6, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/juju/juju (Go)

Affected versions

< 0.0.0-20260120044552-26ff93c903d5

Patched versions

0.0.0-20260120044552-26ff93c903d5

Description

Summary

Any authenticated user, machine or controller under a Juju controller can modify the resources of an application within the entire controller.

This one is very straightforward to just read in the code:

Step 1:
The authorisation mechanism for the resource handler is defined here. One is only required to have been authed as either a user, machine or controller to pass this check. One requires no permissions on the controller nor does one need any further permissions on the models themselves.

This handler is available under the following path format /:modeluuid/applications/:application/resources/:resources. See here. The handler defines no authorizer as supported by the handler struct here.

One needs to know the following three bits of information to poison the resource cache on the controller:

  • model uuid
  • application name in the model
  • resource name in the model

Given that a lot of deployments use the charm name for applications and the resources for charms are published on charm hub, this is a very low bar to meet, only requiring the model uuid.

Step 2:
If one passes the very basic authz check of step 1, one is now allowed free rein for 'PUT' and 'GET' methods to the handler. This security report will only focus on 'PUT' as it is the most interesting. The 'PUT' handler will gladly take whatever is uploaded to it as long as it has the same file extension defined by the resource.

If the resource already exists in the controller's cache, it will be uploaded with whatever is supplied by the upload, see here and here.

That is it. One can successfully poison the resource cache for any model in the controller.

PoC

A proof of concept has not been done for this because it is so obvious from the code read that it is not deemed necessary.

A realistic example of how this can be used: if there is a compromised workload in Juju that has machine credentials, then one can modify the OCI resources for any other model in the controller. For example, if the controller was running a k8s vault, one could change the docker image in use to a trojan horse version that allows obtaining root access to all the vault secrets.

Once this poison has been performed, the attacker can then leverage the vault secrets to go other places.

Impact

Any charm deployment where a resource could be modified to inject security vulnerabilities into another workload. The most obvious is OCI containers as one gets execution escalation, but if a file resource had security controls in it, this could also be leveraged. For the file case, this would need to be examined on a case-by-case basis.

References

@wallyworld wallyworld published to juju/juju Apr 1, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Apr 3, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Apr 3, 2026
Reviewed Apr 3, 2026
Last updated Apr 6, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Attack Requirements None
Privileges Required Low
User interaction None
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity High
Availability None
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality None
Integrity None
Availability None

CVSS v4 base metrics

Exploitability Metrics
Attack Vector: This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible. This metric value (and consequently the resulting severity) will be larger the more remote (logically, and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerable system. The assumption is that the number of potential attackers for a vulnerability that could be exploited from across a network is larger than the number of potential attackers that could exploit a vulnerability requiring physical access to a device, and therefore warrants a greater severity.
Attack Complexity: This metric captures measurable actions that must be taken by the attacker to actively evade or circumvent existing built-in security-enhancing conditions in order to obtain a working exploit. These are conditions whose primary purpose is to increase security and/or increase exploit engineering complexity. A vulnerability exploitable without a target-specific variable has a lower complexity than a vulnerability that would require non-trivial customization. This metric is meant to capture security mechanisms utilized by the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: This metric captures the prerequisite deployment and execution conditions or variables of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These differ from security-enhancing techniques/technologies (ref Attack Complexity) as the primary purpose of these conditions is not to explicitly mitigate attacks, but rather, emerge naturally as a consequence of the deployment and execution of the vulnerable system.
Privileges Required: This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess prior to successfully exploiting the vulnerability. The method by which the attacker obtains privileged credentials prior to the attack (e.g., free trial accounts), is outside the scope of this metric. Generally, self-service provisioned accounts do not constitute a privilege requirement if the attacker can grant themselves privileges as part of the attack.
User interaction: This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable system. This metric determines whether the vulnerability can be exploited solely at the will of the attacker, or whether a separate user (or user-initiated process) must participate in some manner.
Vulnerable System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the VULNERABLE SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the VULNERABLE SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Confidentiality: This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information managed by the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM due to a successfully exploited vulnerability. Confidentiality refers to limiting information access and disclosure to only authorized users, as well as preventing access by, or disclosure to, unauthorized ones.
Integrity: This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information. Integrity of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM is impacted when an attacker makes unauthorized modification of system data. Integrity is also impacted when a system user can repudiate critical actions taken in the context of the system (e.g. due to insufficient logging).
Availability: This metric measures the impact to the availability of the SUBSEQUENT SYSTEM resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability. While the Confidentiality and Integrity impact metrics apply to the loss of confidentiality or integrity of data (e.g., information, files) used by the system, this metric refers to the loss of availability of the impacted system itself, such as a networked service (e.g., web, database, email). Since availability refers to the accessibility of information resources, attacks that consume network bandwidth, processor cycles, or disk space all impact the availability of a system.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(3rd percentile)

Weaknesses

Incorrect Authorization

The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2025-68153

GHSA ID

GHSA-245v-p8fj-vwm2

Source code

Credits

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.