Summary
Zitadel is missing enforcement of organization scopes
A vulnerability in Zitadel's OAuth2/OIDC interface, which allowed users to bypass organization enforcement during authentication.
Affected Versions
Systems running one of the following versions are affected:
- 4.x:
4.0.0through4.12.2(including RC versions) - 3.x:
3.0.0through3.4.8(including RC versions)
Workarounds
The recommended solution is to upgrade to a patched version.
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]
Credits
Thanks to @motoki317 for reporting this vulnerability.
Impact
Zitadel allows applications to enforce an organzation context during authentication using scopes (urn:zitadel:iam:org:id:{id} and urn:zitadel:iam:org:domain:primary:{domainname}). If enforced, a user needs to be part of the required organization to sign in.
While this was properly enforced for OAuth2/OIDC authorization requests in login V1, corresponding controls were missing for device authorization requests and all login V2 and OIDC API V2 endpoints.
This allowed users to bypass the restriction and sign in with users from other organizations.
Note that this enforcement allows for an additional check during authentication and applications relying on authorizations / roles assignments are not affected by this bypass.
The application does not correctly enforce access controls, allowing a principal to access resources or operations beyond their granted permissions. Typical impact: unauthorized data access or execution of privileged operations.
CVE-2026-33132 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (4.12.3, 3.4.9, 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260317120401-d90285929ca0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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The vulnerability has been addressed in the latest releases. The patch resolves the issue by validating the provided scopes and enforcing the organization existence when processing the authorization request. Additionally it will prevent the use of a session of a user which does not belong to the required organization on the OIDC service endpoints (CreateCallback and Authorize or Deny Device Authorization endpoints).
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-33132? CVE-2026-33132 is a medium-severity incorrect authorization vulnerability in github.com/zitadel/zitadel (go), affecting versions >= 4.0.0-rc.1, <= 4.12.2. It is fixed in 4.12.3, 3.4.9, 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260317120401-d90285929ca0. The application does not correctly enforce access controls, allowing a principal to access resources or operations beyond their granted permissions.
- How severe is CVE-2026-33132? CVE-2026-33132 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of github.com/zitadel/zitadel are affected by CVE-2026-33132? github.com/zitadel/zitadel (go) versions >= 4.0.0-rc.1, <= 4.12.2 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-33132? Yes. CVE-2026-33132 is fixed in 4.12.3, 3.4.9, 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260317120401-d90285929ca0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-33132 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-33132 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-33132 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-33132?
- Upgrade
github.com/zitadel/zitadelto 4.12.3 or later - Upgrade
github.com/zitadel/zitadelto 3.4.9 or later - Upgrade
github.com/zitadel/zitadelto 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20260317120401-d90285929ca0 or later
- Upgrade