CVE-2026-25848: A Critical Authentication Bypass in JetBrains Hub
JetBrains Hub is one of those pieces of infrastructure most teams barely think about once it’s running. It handles authentication, users, permissions, and integrations for tools like YouTrack and TeamCity, and it usually sits quietly in the background doing its job.
That’s exactly why CVE-2026-25848 is worth paying attention to.
This vulnerability is a critical authentication bypass in JetBrains Hub that allows certain administrative actions to be performed without logging in at all. If you run Hub and haven’t patched yet, this is not something to put on the “later” list.
What is CVE-2026-25848?
CVE-2026-25848 affects JetBrains Hub versions prior to 2025.3.119807. The core issue is simple and serious: some critical functions do not properly enforce authentication.
In practical terms, that means a remote attacker can send specially crafted requests to a vulnerable Hub instance and trigger admin-level operations without providing valid credentials. This is classified as CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function, which is about as straightforward and dangerous as it sounds.
The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 9.1 (Critical). That score reflects several things at once:
- The attack can be performed remotely
- No existing account or privileges are required
- No user interaction is needed
- The impact includes loss of confidentiality and integrity
In short, it’s both easy to exploit and high impact.
Why this is especially dangerous
Hub is not just another web app. It often acts as a central authority inside an organization.
Depending on how it’s used, a compromised Hub instance could allow an attacker to:
- Create new users or elevate privileges
- Modify access controls and roles
- Change system configuration
- Abuse trust relationships with other JetBrains services
Even if Hub is only exposed internally, this kind of flaw is still serious. Internal services get exposed more often than people expect, through VPNs, misconfigured proxies, temporary firewall rules, or lateral movement after another system is compromised.
An authentication bypass at this level removes one of the most important security boundaries entirely.
Is it being exploited?
As of now, there are no widely published public exploits. That’s good news, but it shouldn’t be comforting.
Authentication bypass vulnerabilities are usually trivial to weaponize once someone understands where the checks are missing. The absence of public exploit code often just means you’re early, not safe.
History shows that bugs like this tend to move from disclosure to exploitation quickly, especially in enterprise software.
Who should be concerned?
You should pay attention to this CVE if:
- You run JetBrains Hub on-prem or in the cloud
- Hub is reachable from outside your private network
- Hub is used as an identity provider for other systems
- Patching is infrequent or manual in your environment
If you’re not sure whether Hub is exposed or what version you’re running, that uncertainty alone is a signal to investigate.
How to fix it
JetBrains has fixed the issue in Hub version 2025.3.119807 and later.
The correct response is straightforward:
- Check your Hub version
- Upgrade to the fixed release or newer
- If immediate patching isn’t possible, restrict network access to Hub as tightly as possible
- Review logs and admin activity for anything unexpected
There’s no reliable configuration workaround that replaces patching. This is a logic flaw in authentication enforcement, not something you can safely mitigate with a setting toggle.