# CVE-2026-18047: Dogtag PKI authentication bypass in ACME responder admin endpoints

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-18047-dogtag-pki-authentication-bypass-in-acme-responder-admin  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-07-28. Updated: 2026-07-28  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-18047 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.5 · Published 2026-07-28

A security flaw has been identified in Dogtag PKI, a system used for managing digital certificates and secure identities. An unauthorized person can bypass security controls to remotely enable or disable the ACME service, which is responsible for automated certificate issuance. This could allow an attacker to disrupt business operations by causing a persistent denial of service or by re-enabling services that administrators had intentionally turned off.

Technologies: [Red Hat Certificate System](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/certificate-system). Vendors: [Red Hat](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/red-hat).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-18047 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-18047 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-18047?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.5, published 28 July 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Red Hat Certificate System 10, 11.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-18047?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2026-18047 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-18047?** Check whether you run Red Hat Certificate System at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

An authentication bypass exists in the Dogtag PKI ACME responder due to inconsistent path normalization between Tomcat and RESTEasy. The security constraints in web.xml use exact URL pattern matching for the /v1/enable and /v1/disable endpoints. By appending a trailing slash (e.g., /v1/enable/), an unauthenticated attacker can bypass Tomcat's security constraints while RESTEasy still routes the request to the underlying JAX-RS handler. Because the ACMEEnableService and ACMEDisableService components lack application-level authorization checks, an attacker can successfully toggle the ACME service state, leading to unauthorized service modification or persistent denial of service.

## Affected products

- Dogtag PKI Dogtag PKI
- Red Hat Red Hat Certificate System 10, 11
- Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9, 10

## Timeline

- 2026-07-28: disclosed: Initial vulnerability report and CVE assignment
- 2026-07-28: advisory: NVD and Red Hat advisories published

## References

- [https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/](https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/)
- [https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-18047](https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-18047)
- [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2507956](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2507956)

## Related threats

- [Dogtag PKI SSRF in ACME HTTP-01 challenge validator](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-18369-dogtag-pki-ssrf-in-acme-http-01-challenge-validator)
- [Red Hat Certificate System memory leak in TLS endpoint](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-12353-red-hat-certificate-system-memory-leak-in-tls-endpoint)