CVE-2026-46481: OpenMetadata: TEST_CONNECTION workflow leaks ingestion-bot JWT and database password to regular users

Synopsis

This is a sensitive-data exposure vulnerability in OpenMetadata, the unified metadata platform. Any authenticated non-admin SSO user can trigger a TEST_CONNECTION workflow and receive, in the HTTP 201 response, both the cleartext database password and the ingestion-bot JWT in plaintext. With the leaked bot token, an attacker can impersonate the ingestion bot and call sensitive service APIs with bot-level privileges, enabling both data theft and unauthorized data modification. A patched-image rebuild at version 1.12.4 is available on HarborGuard for environments running an affected version.

HarborGuard Coverage

Exploit Conditions

• Network reachabilityRequired

  The attacker must reach the OpenMetadata API service over the network to send the crafted POST request to /api/v1/automations/workflows.

• AuthenticationRequired

  Any low-privilege SSO account is sufficient; no admin or elevated role is required to trigger the vulnerable workflow.

• Victim interactionNot required

  No victim action is needed; the attacker triggers the workflow directly without involving another user.

• Attack complexityDetail

  The exploit is reliable and condition-free, requiring only a valid low-privilege session and a single well-formed API request.

Blast Radius

• The attacker reads the cleartext database password returned in the workflow response, gaining direct credential access to the underlying database service.
• The attacker reads the ingestion-bot JWT and reuses it as a Bearer token to call any service API accessible to the bot, reading stored metadata, service definitions, and connection configs.
• The attacker uses bot-level write access to modify or delete metadata records, lineage data, and service configurations persisted in OpenMetadata.
• Service availability is partially degraded (CVSS A:L); an attacker with bot privileges can disrupt ingestion workflows or corrupt pipeline state, though full service crash is not guaranteed.