CVE-2025-49827 is a critical (CVSS 9.8) bypass of the IAM authenticator in CyberArk Conjur OSS and Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted. A malformed regular expression lets a crafted request redirect the AWS validation call to a server the attacker controls. Fixes are Conjur OSS 1.22.1 and Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted 13.5.1 and 13.6.1.
What's affected
Per the record:
- Conjur OSS 1.19.5 through 1.22.0.
- Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted (formerly Conjur Enterprise) 13.1 through 13.5, and 13.6.
The fixed releases are Conjur OSS 1.22.1, Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted 13.5.1 and Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted 13.6.1. The CyberArk release notes and the GitHub advisory GHSA-gmc5-9mpc-xg75 are the sources to confirm against for your exact branch.
Only deployments that use the IAM authenticator, which lets workloads on AWS prove their identity to Conjur, are in the path of this flaw. If you never enabled that authenticator, check the advisory before treating the instance as exposed.
A closely related issue, CVE-2025-49831, covers the same fixed versions through a different cause, and is worth reading together with this one.
How to check if you're exposed
Find the Conjur version in each environment. For a container deployment, list the running image and tag:
docker ps --format "{{.Names}} {{.Image}}" | grep -i conjur
For Kubernetes:
kubectl get pods -A -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{.metadata.namespace} {.metadata.name} {range .spec.containers[*]}{.image} {end}{"\n"}{end}' | grep -i conjur
Then check whether the IAM authenticator is enabled and which workloads authenticate through it. Your Conjur administrator can list the configured authenticators. For Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted, use your vendor's documentation for the version command.
What to do now
- Upgrade Conjur OSS to 1.22.1 or later, or Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted to 13.5.1 or 13.6.1, matching your branch.
- Confirm the upgraded version after the rollout.
- Review which hosts and roles authenticate through the IAM authenticator, and remove any that are no longer needed.
- Review authentication logs for unfamiliar identities or sources around the time before you patched.
- If you suspect misuse, rotate the secrets that the affected roles could read.
- Check the network path from Conjur to AWS, so a misconfigured proxy or device cannot redirect that traffic.
Why it matters
Conjur holds secrets for other systems, so a bypass of how it authenticates callers puts every secret behind the affected roles in play. The record says an attacker who succeeds receives the permissions of the client whose request was manipulated.
The weakness is CWE-807, reliance on untrusted inputs in a security decision. The IAM authenticator takes headers that the caller supplies and uses them to decide where to send a validation request. A malformed regular expression meant a header could point that request at the wrong server, and the wrong server could answer yes.
Validation of where a call goes is as important as validation of what it says. If your own code forwards a request on behalf of a client, check the destination against an exact allow list and not a pattern that is meant to look right.
The record's KEV flag is false, and nothing in the references says it was exploited in the wild.
Try it yourself
Click through it at your own pace, or open it full screen.
Quick check
Which versions fix CVE-2025-49827?
Conjur OSS 1.22.1, and Secrets Manager, Self-Hosted 13.5.1 or 13.6.1, per the record.
Am I affected if I do not use the IAM authenticator?
The flaw is in that authenticator, so check the advisory for how your configuration is affected before deciding. Upgrading is the safe option either way.
Sources
- Gold entry for CVE-2025-49827
- NVD record for CVE-2025-49827
- GitHub advisory GHSA-gmc5-9mpc-xg75
- Conjur OSS 1.22.1 release
Safeguard has a free in-browser dependency scan at gold.safeguard.sh/scan for the libraries in projects you manage.
Last reviewed: 18 October 2026.
