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Medium · 6.0 CVE-2026-100235 EUVD-2026-116866GHSA-f5cq-cgxv-j9m8

Apache ZooKeeper: ACL enforcement bypass allows unauthorized operations to commit after an ACL revocation

Published Nov 4, 2026 · Updated Nov 5, 2026 · Assigned by apache

Description

Incorrect authorization due to a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the setACL request handling of Apache ZooKeeper.

When a node's ACL is changed via setACL, the pending change is not published to the server's outstanding change record for that node. Any request that is prepared (and authorized) after the setACL is submitted but before it commits is therefore checked against the previous, pre-revocation ACL, yet is applied to the data tree after the ACL change has taken effect. A client that currently holds a permission can use this window to perform operations requiring that permission through and after its revocation — for example, committing writes or deletes after losing write access, or re-granting itself full permissions, which persistently defeats the revocation. In deployments transitioning from the default OPEN_ACL_UNSAFE ACL to a restrictive ACL, any unauthenticated client can exploit this during the transition.

This issue affects Apache ZooKeeper up to and including 3.9.6. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.8.8 or 3.9.7, which fixes the issue.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Apache Software Foundation Apache ZooKeeper 3.9.0 – ≤ 3.9.6, 3.8.0 – ≤ 3.8.7 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 zookeeper 3.9.7-1 —
Debian 13 zookeeper No fix yet —
Debian 12 zookeeper No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 zookeeper No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS zookeeper No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS zookeeper No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS zookeeper No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS zookeeper No fix yet —
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS zookeeper No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS zookeeper No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS zookeeper No fix yet —

References