# CVE-2026-78560: Okta Access Gateway authentication bypass in pass-through source

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-78560-okta-access-gateway-authentication-bypass-in-pass-through-source  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-09-08. Updated: 2026-09-26  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-78560 · Severity: medium · CVSS 4.8 · Published 2026-09-08

Okta Access Gateway is a security appliance that controls user access to protected applications. When an optional pass-through authentication mode is enabled, the appliance can be tricked into accepting arbitrary user identities from HTTP headers without proper validation. An attacker without valid credentials can impersonate any user and gain unauthorized access to applications, unless the organization has deployed additional network protections to block this attack.

Technologies: [Okta Access Gateway](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/access-gateway). Vendors: [Okta](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/okta).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-78560 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-78560 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-78560?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 4.8, published 8 September 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Okta Access Gateway prior to 2026.9.1.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-78560?** 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-2026-78560 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a network appliance.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-78560?** Check whether you run Okta Access Gateway 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

The vulnerability is an improper authentication validation issue (CWE-287) in the pass-through authentication source module of Okta Access Gateway. The component accepts user identity claims directly from client-supplied HTTP headers without cryptographic validation or integrity checking. An unauthenticated attacker with network access can craft HTTP requests containing arbitrary identity headers to initiate sessions as any user. This requires the administrator to have explicitly enabled the pass-through authentication source module and the deployment to lack upstream reverse proxy or firewall rules that sanitize/strip client headers. The vulnerability is fixed in version 2026.9.1 and later.

## Affected products

- Okta Access Gateway prior to 2026.9.1

## Timeline

- 2026-09-08: disclosed

## References

- [https://trust.okta.com/security-advisories/improper-authentication-validation-in-okta-access-gateway-pass-through-authentication-source-cve-2026-78560](https://trust.okta.com/security-advisories/improper-authentication-validation-in-okta-access-gateway-pass-through-authentication-source-cve-2026-78560)

## Related threats

- [Okta Access Gateway command execution in Admin Console](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115547-an-input-validation-issue-in-the-okta-access-gateway-oag-admin)
- [Okta Access Gateway authentication source validation bypass](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115546-okta-access-gateway-oag-does-not-validate-the-selected)
- [Okta Access Gateway OS command injection in SNMP configuration](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-78630-okta-access-gateway-os-command-injection-in-snmp-configuration)
- [Okta Access Gateway authorization bypass in Protected Rules](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-78626-okta-access-gateway-authorization-bypass-in-protected-rules)
- [Okta Access Gateway code injection in dashboard labels](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-78625-okta-access-gateway-code-injection-in-dashboard-labels)