Vulnerability · Published Mar 19, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-30836Step CA: Unauthenticated Certificate Issuance via SCEP UpdateReq (MessageType=18)

Critical 10.0

In plain English

A critical-severity improper authentication in certificates from smallstep. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 24% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)10.0Critical
Exploit odds (30 days)0.3%top 76.3% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

Step CA is an online certificate authority for secure, automated certificate management for DevOps. Versions 0.30.0-rc6 and below do not safeguard against unauthenticated certificate issuance through the SCEP UpdateReq. This issue has been fixed in version 0.30.0.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Alpine:v3.23step-certificates0.30.1-r0ALPINE-CVE-2026-30836
Alpine:v3.24step-certificates0.30.1-r0ALPINE-CVE-2026-30836
Gogithub.com/smallstep/certificates0.30.0GHSA-q4r8-xm5f-56gw
Gogithub.com/smallstep/certificates0.30.0GO-2026-4775
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSgolang-github-smallstep-certificatesno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-30836
Ubuntu:25.10golang-github-smallstep-certificatesno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-30836
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSgolang-github-smallstep-certificatesno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-30836
Ubuntu:26.10golang-github-smallstep-certificatesno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-30836

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
smallstep certificates < 0.30.0

Weakness: CWE-287, CWE-295 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

References