CVE-2026-12986: Payara Payara Server Full Has A Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-x939-7fq5-v9v6
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CWE-352
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-12986 is a HIGH payara server full has a vulnerability (CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)) affecting Payara libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves payara server full has a cross-site request forgery vulnerability. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 7.2026.6.

CVE-2026-12986 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-12986
GHSA Identifier GHSA-x939-7fq5-v9v6
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Affected Product Payara
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2026-12986

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Payara dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

fish.payara.distributions:payara fixed: 7.2026.6 
<dependency>
    <groupId>fish.payara.distributions</groupId>
    <artifactId>payara</artifactId>
    <version>7.2026.6</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=fish.payara.distributions

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2026-12986, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=fish.payara.distributions

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Payara in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 7.2026.6), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=fish.payara.distributions command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), where the web application does not, or cannot, sufficiently verify whether a request was intentionally provided by the user who sent the request, which could have originated from an unauthorized actor. In Payara, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

A critical vulnerability in Admin GUI in Payara Server Full 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 7.2026.x, 6.2025.x, 6.2024.x on All platforms that allows the attacker to leak the admin gfresttoken to an attacker-controlled host that can result in a full unauthenticated takeover of Payara admin domain. A Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the DownloadServlet of the Admin GUI in Payara Server allows a remote attacker to exfiltrate the administrator's REST session token (gfresttoken) to an attacker-controlled host via a crafted request URL. Combined with the absence of CSRF protection on DownloadServlet, an unauthenticated attacker can trick a logged-in administrator into triggering the token leak, then replay the stolen token to gain full administrative access to the Payara domain, leading to arbitrary code execution via WAR deployment. The vulnerability exists in the DownloadServlet and associated ContentSource implementations (LogViewerContentSource, LogFilesContentSource, LBConfigContentSource, ClientStubsContentSource) within the admingui:console-common module.

CVE-2026-12986 Affected Payara Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
7.2026.6
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
fish.payara.distributions:payara
maven/fish.payara.distributions/payara
Maven
≥ 4.0.0
< 7.2026.6
7.2026.6

References

NVD — CVE-2026-12986 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-12986
Payara Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/payara/Payara/pull/8229
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/payara/Payara/commit/be83ab093692bafb09125323f3fdefaeab9cc398
Payara Release RELEASE
https://docs.payara.fish/community/docs/Release%20Notes/Release%20Notes%207.2026.6.html
Payara Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/payara/Payara
Payara Release RELEASE
https://github.com/payara/Payara/releases/tag/payara-server-7.2026.6

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-12986?
CVE-2026-12986 is a security vulnerability in Payara involving Payara Server Full has a Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF).
Which Payara versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 7.2026.6 across affected packages: fish.payara.distributions:payara.
What version fixes CVE-2026-12986?
Upgrading to 7.2026.6 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is payara affected?
Yes, fish.payara.distributions:payara is affected in releases prior to 7.2026.6. Upgrade your dependency to 7.2026.6 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-12986?
CVE-2026-12986 is classified under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) (The web application does not, or cannot, sufficiently verify whether a request was intentionally provided by the user who sent the request, which could have originated from an unauthorized actor.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2026-12986?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=fish.payara.distributions'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-x939-7fq5-v9v6",
  "modified" : "2026-09-25T20:00:30Z",
  "published" : "2026-06-24T15:31:48Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-12986" ],
  "summary" : "Payara Server Full has a Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability",
  "details" : "A critical vulnerability in Admin GUI in Payara Server Full 4.x, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 7.2026.x, 6.2025.x, 6.2024.x on All platforms that allows the attacker to leak the admin gfresttoken to an attacker-controlled host that can result in a full unauthenticated takeover of Payara admin domain.\n\nA Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the DownloadServlet of the Admin GUI in Payara Server allows a remote attacker to exfiltrate the administrator's REST session token (gfresttoken) to an attacker-controlled host via a crafted request URL. Combined with the absence of CSRF protection on DownloadServlet, an unauthenticated attacker can trick a logged-in administrator into triggering the token leak, then replay the stolen token to gain full administrative access to the Payara domain, leading to arbitrary code execution via WAR deployment. The vulnerability exists in the DownloadServlet and associated ContentSource implementations (LogViewerContentSource, LogFilesContentSource, LBConfigContentSource, ClientStubsContentSource) within the admingui:console-common module.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:P/S:P/AU:Y/R:U/V:C/RE:M/U:Amber"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "fish.payara.distributions:payara"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "4.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "7.2026.6"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-12986"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/payara/Payara/pull/8229"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/payara/Payara/commit/be83ab093692bafb09125323f3fdefaeab9cc398"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://docs.payara.fish/community/docs/Release%20Notes/Release%20Notes%207.2026.6.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/payara/Payara"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/payara/Payara/releases/tag/payara-server-7.2026.6"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-352" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-09-25T20:00:30Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-06-24T15:16:39Z"
  }
}