Spring Security embedded UnboundID LDAP server exposes well-known administrative bind DN on all network interfaces

CRITICAL | AUGUST 20, 2026 | CVE-2026-59270

Description

Spring Security's embedded UnboundID LDAP server (UnboundIdContainer) unconditionally registers an administrative credential and binds its listener to all available network interfaces.

An attacker who could reach the LDAP listener port could authenticate using the well-known administrative bind DN, and then read or modify entries in the in-memory directory.

Preconditions:

  1. The application uses UnboundIdContainer — configured directly or through Spring Boot auto-configuration (spring.ldap.embedded.* properties).
  2. The LDAP listener port is reachable from the attacker's network position (not restricted to localhost by an external firewall or network policy).

Affected Spring Products and Versions

Spring Security:

  • 7.1.0 - 7.1.0
  • 7.0.0 - 7.0.6
  • 6.5.0 - 6.5.11
  • 6.4.0 - 6.4.18
  • 5.8.0 - 5.8.27
  • 5.7.0 - 5.7.25

Mitigation

Users of affected versions should upgrade to the corresponding fixed version.
Fix versionAvailability
7.1.1OSS
7.1.0.1Enterprise Support Only
7.0.7OSS
7.0.6.1Enterprise Support Only
6.5.12Enterprise Support Only
6.4.19Enterprise Support Only
5.8.28Enterprise Support Only
5.7.26Enterprise Support Only

No further mitigation steps are necessary.

History

  • 2026-08-20: Initial vulnerability report published.

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