Do Son 
TL;DR
CERT/CC published a vulnerability note on October 27, 2026, disclosing an unpatched Xerj authentication bypass tracked as CVE-2026-97406. This flaw allows attackers with existing bearer tokens to mint persistent credentials without required passkey verifications. Consequently, unauthorized users can maintain permanent administrative access even after administrators revoke the initial token.
- CVE: CVE-2026-97406
- CVSS: 9.1 (Critical · CVSSv3)
- Product: Xerj Console API
- Affected: v1.0.0-rc.11
- Impact: Authentication Bypass via Bearer Tokens to Unauthorized Credential Minting
- Status: No confirmed exploitation yet
- EPSS: 0.5% (30-day)
- Action: See vendor advisory
Why It Matters
Xerj serves as an open-source search engine tailored for artificial intelligence agents using the Elasticsearch API. While exact deployment statistics remain unavailable, organizations use the engine to query structured data indices. Specifically, this security defect undermines system access by eliminating multi-factor verification boundaries. Furthermore, CERT/CC confirmed that no malicious exploitation has been observed in the wild. In addition, researchers have not published any public proof-of-concept exploit code.
How the Attack Works
Security researcher Shiran Guez discovered the flaw in the Xerj Console API session handling logic. The CERT/CC vulnerability note highlights the core architectural breakdown. The advisory notes that “According to the documented security contract, the issuance of new API tokens must be strictly authorized by a passkey-backed session.” However, the code converts standard browser sessions and API bearer tokens into the same generic AuthSession object. The token creation handler accepts this generalized principal without checking for passkey authentication.
Persistent Credential Minting
An attacker holding a stolen bearer token can directly call the token creation endpoint. Therefore, the adversary mints successor credentials that inherit the original access levels. Furthermore, the platform lacks hierarchical revocation logic. Revoking a parent token leaves all spawned descendant tokens fully active. As a result, if an attacker captures an owner token, they can invite new accounts and enroll an attacker-controlled passkey. This action grants permanent control over the target deployment.
Affected Versions
This Xerj authentication bypass impacts all current versions of the Xerj Console API. The advisory lists all unpatched deployments as vulnerable.
Patch and Mitigation Steps
Currently, users have no official fix available. The advisory states that “The vendor could not be reached to coordinate this vulnerability and an official patch has not been made available at the time of this writing.” Administrators must restrict network access to the Xerj Console API using perimeter firewalls. In addition, teams should monitor the official project repository for upcoming security updates.
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