Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
MaxKey reportedly uses a publicly known default secret to approve login tokens. An unauthenticated attacker could impersonate any user, including an administrator, potentially exposing SSO configuration and credentials for connected applications. Because exploitation requires no credentials or user interaction, affected internet-reachable deployments need urgent attention.
Executive priority
Treat as an immediate remediation priority for exposed MaxKey systems. The reported path enables administrator impersonation without credentials and may extend compromise into connected applications. Isolate exposed endpoints, confirm the vendor correction, and investigate for suspicious sessions before considering the incident closed.
Technical view
The reported flaw is a hard-coded JWT signing secret in application-maxkey.properties combined with the password-skipped /sign/login/jwt/trust flow. A forged, correctly signed token can reportedly create an authenticated session for an arbitrary user. The supplied CVSS 3.1 score is 9.8, reflecting network access, low complexity, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is highest where MaxKey's JWT trust login endpoint is reachable by untrusted networks and retains the known default signing secret. The supplied affected-version value, "0," does not provide a reliable version range, so deployment configuration and vendor guidance must determine exposure.
Exploitation context
The sources describe a practical unauthenticated attack path, but the supplied record is not in CISA KEV and provides no evidence of active exploitation. Public disclosure of the default secret and affected endpoint may reduce the effort needed to develop attacks.
Researcher notes
CWE-798 fits the reported hard-coded credential weakness. The key risk arises from combining a shared signing secret with a trust endpoint that skips password verification. Precise affected releases remain unclear because the bundle lists only version "0." Endpoint naming also varies between the title and description; validate routing in deployed code.
Mitigation direction
- Review the vendor issue and patch commit, then apply the vendor-supported corrected release or change.
- Restrict the JWT trust login endpoint to trusted networks until remediation is confirmed.
- Invalidate existing MaxKey sessions after remediation.
- Rotate downstream application secrets if logs or configuration indicate possible administrative access.
- Monitor vendor guidance for clarified affected versions and additional recovery requirements.
Validation and detection
- Identify all MaxKey deployments and determine whether the JWT trust login endpoint is externally reachable.
- Check application configuration for the publicly known default JWT signing secret.
- Confirm the deployed code or release contains the cited vendor correction.
- Review authentication logs for unexpected JWT trust logins and administrator sessions.
- Audit SSO configuration and downstream secrets for unauthorized access or changes.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-798: Credential and account abuse lookup
Authentication and credential weaknesses can make valid-account abuse and credential telemetry useful review starting points. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-69102 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
2 official scoresWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H3.95.9VulnCheckCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N——VulnCheckVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
9.3CriticalVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.8CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- Product RepositoryCVE reference, VulnCheck · product
- GitHub IssueCVE reference, VulnCheck · issue-tracking
- Patch CommitCVE reference, VulnCheck · patch
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/maxkey-hard-coded-jwt-secret-unauthorized-access-via-login-jwt-trustCVE reference, VulnCheck · third-party-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Use of Hard-coded Credentials
Use of Hard-coded Credentials represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.