CVE-2026-33503: Ory Kratos has a SQL injection via forged pagination tokens

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-33503 is a high (CVSS 7.2) vulnerability in ory kratos. EPSS estimates a 0.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 18% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 26-03-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 01-04-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Ory Kratos is an identity, user management and authentication system for cloud services. Prior to version 26.2.0, the ListCourierMessages Admin API in Ory Kratos is vulnerable to SQL injection due to flaws in its pagination implementation. Pagination tokens are encrypted using the secret configured in `secrets.pagination`. An attacker who knows this secret can craft their own tokens, including malicious tokens that lead to SQL injection. If this configuration value is not set, Kratos falls back to a default pagination encryption secret. Because this default value is publicly known, attackers can generate valid and malicious pagination tokens manually for installations where this secret is not set. As a first line of defense, immediately configure a custom value for `secrets.pagination` by generating a cryptographically secure random secret. Next, upgrade Kratos** to a fixed version, 26.2.0 or later, as soon as possible.

• CWE-89Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL CommandThe product constructs all or part of an SQL command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended SQL command when it is sent to a downstream component. Without sufficient removal or quoting of SQL syntax in user-controllable inputs, the generated SQL query can cause those inputs to be interpreted as SQL instead of ordinary user data.