Summary
OpenAM: Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass via RADIUS Spoofing
Description
An Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature (CWE-347) issue in OpenAM's RADIUS authentication module allows an unauthenticated network attacker to spoof an Access-Accept response and obtain an OpenAM session for any RADIUS username, without knowing the configured shared secret. This affects OpenAM Community Edition through version 16.0.6 and was patched in version 16.1.1.
The RADIUS client opens an unconnected datagram socket and treats the first UDP datagram delivered to its source port as authoritative. The receive path does not check the source IP/port, does not match the response identifier to the outstanding request, and does not verify the Response Authenticator (RFC 2865 §3); the RFC 2869 Message-Authenticator is neither sent nor required. Any non-Reject/non-Challenge packet is treated as success, so a forged Access-Accept is accepted as a valid login.
Impact
OpenAM Community Edition deployments through version 16.0.6 where an administrator has enabled a RADIUS module instance on a login chain are potentially affected. An attacker either races the real server on-path, or off-path sprays forged Access-Accept packets at the OpenAM client port. Because the client performs no verification of the response authenticator, no MD5 chosen-prefix forgery is required, which is is materially stronger than the BlastRADIUS family (CVE-2024-3596), in which an attacker must still forge a valid authenticator.
Successful exploitation yields pre-authentication impersonation of any RADIUS-mapped user in any affected realm. The resulting session is indistinguishable from a legitimate RADIUS login and carries the named principal's privileges.
CVE-2026-46560 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is reachable from an adjacent network, 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 (16.1.1); 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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This has been patched in OpenAM Community Edition version 16.1.1. Users are encouraged to update to the latest release.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-46560? CVE-2026-46560 is a high-severity security vulnerability in org.openidentityplatform.openam:openam-radius (maven), affecting versions < 16.1.1. It is fixed in 16.1.1.
- How severe is CVE-2026-46560? CVE-2026-46560 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). 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 org.openidentityplatform.openam:openam-radius are affected by CVE-2026-46560? org.openidentityplatform.openam:openam-radius (maven) versions < 16.1.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-46560? Yes. CVE-2026-46560 is fixed in 16.1.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-46560 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-46560 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-2026-46560 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-2026-46560? Upgrade
org.openidentityplatform.openam:openam-radiusto 16.1.1 or later.