# CVE-2026-41081

> Vulnerability · severity: **MEDIUM** (CVSS 6.5).

## Description

Improper Handling of TLS Client Authentication Failure Leading to Anonymous Principal Assignment in Apache Storm

Versions Affected: up to 2.8.7

Description: When TLS transport is enabled in Apache Storm without requiring client certificate authentication (the default configuration), the TlsTransportPlugin assigns a fallback principal (CN=ANONYMOUS) if no client certificate is presented or if certificate verification fails. The underlying SSLPeerUnverifiedException is caught and suppressed rather than rejecting the connection.

This fail-open behavior means an unauthenticated client can establish a TLS connection and receive a valid principal identity. If the configured authorizer (e.g., SimpleACLAuthorizer) does not explicitly deny access to CN=ANONYMOUS, this may result in unauthorized access to Storm services. The condition is logged at debug level only, reducing visibility in production.

Impact: Unauthenticated clients may be assigned a principal identity, potentially bypassing authorization in permissive or misconfigured environments.

Mitigation: Users should upgrade to 2.8.7 in which TLS authentication failures are handled in a fail-closed manner.

Users who cannot upgrade immediately should:
- Enable mandatory client certificate authentication (nimbus.thrift.tls.client.auth.required: true)
- Ensure authorization rules explicitly deny access to CN=ANONYMOUS
- Review all ACL configurations for implicit default-allow behavior

## Key facts

- **CVE ID:** CVE-2026-41081
- **Published:** 2026-04-27
- **CVSS severity:** MEDIUM
- **CVSS base score:** 6.5
- **CWE codes:** CWE-287

## Affected products

- `apache:storm`

## Primary sources

- NIST NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-41081

## Citation

> AI Analytics. CVE-2026-41081. Retrieved 2026-09-07 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/cve/CVE-2026-41081. Derived from NIST NVD. Licensed CC0.

---

*[Dataset catalog](https://api.ai-analytics.org/datasets/) · [AI Analytics](https://api.ai-analytics.org/) · CC0 1.0*