Executive brief
MongoDB Server's Atlas Vector Search feature contains a flaw that allows authenticated users to bypass view-level access controls. An attacker with read access to one data view could exploit insufficient input validation to retrieve sensitive documents from a different protected view stored in the same underlying collection, circumventing intended data isolation.
Technical details
This vulnerability is a privilege escalation in the Vector Search pipeline component of MongoDB Server. The root cause is insufficient validation of user-supplied fields (such as viewName or collectionUUID) when constructing internal requests forwarded to the search process. An authenticated attacker with read access to at least one view can manipulate these fields in a $vectorSearch query to access documents from other views over the same collection. The attack requires valid authentication and knowledge of protected view names or identifiers. Patches are available in MongoDB 7.0.40, 8.0.29, 8.2.13, and later versions.
Affected products
- MongoDB Server 7.0 prior to 7.0.40, 8.0 prior to 8.0.29, 8.2 prior to 8.2.13, 8.3 prior to 8.3.8, 9.0 prior to 9.0.0-rc2, 9.1 prior to 9.1.0-rc0
Timeline
- 2026-08-11: disclosed: CVE-2026-18705 published
- 2026-08-11: patched: Patches released in MongoDB 7.0.40, 8.0.29, 8.2.13, 8.3.8, 9.0.0-rc2, 9.1.0-rc0