CVE-2026-82958
Received Received - Intake

JSON Injection in Eclipse Ditto Connectivity Service

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-82958, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-09-02

Last updated on: 2026-09-02

Assigner: Eclipse Foundation

Description

In Eclipse Ditto versions [1.3.0, 3.9.6], the ImplicitThingCreationMessageMapper of the connectivity service builds a CreateThing command by substituting placeholder values (e.g. {{ header:device_id }}) resolved from inbound message headers into a pre-configured JSON "thing" template as raw, un-escaped strings, and then parses the resulting string as JSON. Because the placeholder engine performs no JSON escaping and is unaware of the surrounding JSON string context, a resolved value containing a double-quote character can break out of its string and inject additional JSON structure. When a connection is configured to use this mapper with a template that reflects a header whose value a publishing device can control (for example an MQTT 5 user property, an AMQP 1.0 application property, or a Kafka record header), an attacker able to publish on that connection can inject an inline _policy object. The inline policy overrides the administrator-configured policyId, letting the attacker assign an arbitrary access-control policy to the newly created digital twin β€” gaining full read/write access to it and potentially revoking the legitimate owner's access, with no administrator interaction. Exploitation requires all of the following: the connection uses the (non-default) ImplicitThingCreation mapper; its template reflects an attacker-controllable header; and, for the policy-override impact, the connection's authorization subjects are permitted to create policies (the default). Deployments that restrict the connection's subjects to thing creation only via the entity-creation configuration are not affected by the policy-override impact.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-02
Last Modified
2026-09-02
Generated
2026-09-02
AI Q&A
2026-09-02
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 4 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
eclipse ditto 1.3.0
eclipse ditto 3.9.6
eclipse ditto From 1.3.0 (inc) to 3.9.7 (exc)
eclipse ditto From 3.8.13 (inc) to 3.9.7 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
CWE Icon
KEV
KEV Icon
CWE ID Description
CWE-74 The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component.
CWE-1336 The product uses a template engine to insert or process externally-influenced input, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements or syntax that can be interpreted as template expressions or other code directives when processed by the engine.
CWE-116 The product prepares a structured message for communication with another component, but encoding or escaping of the data is either missing or done incorrectly. As a result, the intended structure of the message is not preserved.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a JSON template injection in Eclipse Ditto's ImplicitThingCreationMessageMapper. It allows attackers to inject malicious JSON structures by exploiting unescaped placeholder values from message headers. Specifically, an attacker can craft a header with a double-quote character to break out of the intended JSON string context and inject an inline _policy object. This overrides the admin-configured policyId, granting the attacker full read/write access to a newly created digital twin.

Detection Guidance

Check if Eclipse Ditto versions [1.3.0, 3.9.6] are running by inspecting service logs or version files. Monitor for unexpected policy changes or unauthorized digital twin creations in logs. Inspect connectivity service configurations for ImplicitThingCreationMessageMapper usage.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could hijack digital twins by gaining full ownership, revoking legitimate users' access, and bypassing access control policies. This could lead to unauthorized data manipulation, denial of service for legitimate users, and potential tenant isolation breaches. Exploitation requires the attacker to publish messages on an affected connection.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access and data breaches, violating GDPR's data protection principles and HIPAA's access control requirements. It risks non-compliance with data integrity and confidentiality mandates, potentially resulting in legal penalties and reputational damage.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Eclipse Ditto to versions 3.9.7 or 3.8.13 or later. Restrict entity creation for affected connections. Configure entity-creation settings to prevent policy entity creation. Ensure templates only reflect trusted header values. Temporarily disable ImplicitThingCreationMessageMapper if not required.

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