What is CVE-2026-48036?

CVE-2026-48036 is a high-severity security vulnerability in @hulumi/drift (npm), affecting versions < 1.4.0. It is fixed in 1.4.0.

Which versions of @hulumi/drift are affected by CVE-2026-48036?

@hulumi/drift (npm) versions < 1.4.0 is affected.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-48036?

Yes. CVE-2026-48036 is fixed in 1.4.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is CVE-2026-48036 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2026-48036 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.

What actually determines whether CVE-2026-48036 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-2026-48036?

Upgrade @hulumi/drift to 1.4.0 or later.

CVE-2026-48036 in @hulumi/drift

Q: Which versions of @hulumi/drift are affected by CVE-2026-48036?

@hulumi/drift (npm) versions < 1.4.0 is affected.

Q: Is there a fix for CVE-2026-48036?

Yes. CVE-2026-48036 is fixed in 1.4.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is CVE-2026-48036 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2026-48036 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.

Q: What actually determines whether CVE-2026-48036 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.

Q: How do I fix CVE-2026-48036?

Upgrade @hulumi/drift to 1.4.0 or later.

Summary

@hulumi/drift: Drift classifier fails open on adapter errors and over-promotes Mixed verdicts

Affected: @hulumi/drift < 1.4.0, Fixed in: 1.4.0, Severity: Medium, CWE-755 (Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions)

@hulumi/drift runs four adapters that each ask a different question about whether a resource has drifted (Pulumi-state diff, provider-version change, CloudTrail event, etc.). A classifier combines the adapters' answers into a verdict like None / none, ConsoleBreakGlass / high, or Mixed / high, and caches the verdict for 6 hours by default.

Two related bugs from one root cause, the classifier only read each adapter's detected: true/false field and ignored whether the adapter itself succeeded:

Cached "all clear" on adapter failure. When an adapter failed (e.g. transient network error from the Automation API), the classifier read detected: false, concluded "no drift", and cached the verdict as None / none for 6 hours. A single transient failure could mask real console-break-glass mutations for the rest of the window.
Mixed verdicts without real evidence. The Mixed / high and ConsoleBreakGlass / high verdicts (incident severity) could fire on the "the CloudTrail probe round-tripped successfully" signal rather than actual evidence that anything had been changed via the console. Normal provider-API churn could end up falsely escalated to incident severity.

Workarounds

Setting options.minConfidence: "medium" on the classifier call prevents the degraded None / none from being cached (it doesn't meet the threshold), partially mitigating case (1). No workaround for case (2).

Resources

PR #178 (Cluster D); regression tests in packages/drift/tests/classifier-fail-closed.test.ts.

Impact

Consumers running drift detection in CI / cron could see transient adapter failures silently cached as "all clear", masking real attacks for up to six hours, or see ordinary provider-version churn falsely promoted to incident severity. Either way, the verdict source was unreliable for downstream incident workflows that gate on it.

Affected versions

@hulumi/drift (< 1.4.0)

Security releases

@hulumi/drift → 1.4.0 (npm)

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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See it in your environment New to Kodem? Get a demo →

Remediation advice

Upgrade to @hulumi/[email protected]. Classifier-only fix (the TLA+-verified 6-row verdict matrix is byte-identical):

adapter failures now fail closed to Unknown / low, and degraded verdicts are not written to the cache;
the Mixed / ConsoleBreakGlass promotion now requires real CloudTrail event evidence rather than probe liveness.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-48036? CVE-2026-48036 is a high-severity security vulnerability in @hulumi/drift (npm), affecting versions < 1.4.0. It is fixed in 1.4.0.
Which versions of @hulumi/drift are affected by CVE-2026-48036? @hulumi/drift (npm) versions < 1.4.0 is affected.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-48036? Yes. CVE-2026-48036 is fixed in 1.4.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is CVE-2026-48036 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-48036 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-2026-48036 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-2026-48036? Upgrade @hulumi/drift to 1.4.0 or later.

Other vulnerabilities in @hulumi/drift

CVE-IDSeverityPackage summary

GHSA-2FFM-HXRQ-QQMMHigh@hulumi/drift: @hulumi/drift: Orphan reconciler accepted externally supplied execute plans