MongoDB Server Sharding Privilege Escalation via Internal State Replay
CVE-2026-120814 Published on November 10, 2026
MultiUpdateCoordinator state replay lets a shard administrator create a persistent cluster root user
An improper privilege management issue in the sharding subsystem of MongoDB Server may allow a user holding certain shard-level administrative privileges to cause persisted internal coordination state to be reprocessed with elevated internal authority. Because that state is trusted rather than re-validated, operations may be carried out beyond the user's authorized scope, including changes to cluster-wide security configuration. Successful triggering this issue requires an authenticated session directly against a cluster member and can result in unauthorized access to and modification of data across the cluster.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-120814 is exploitable with network access, and requires user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have no impact on confidentiality and integrity and availability.
Weakness Type
Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
The software performs an operation at a privilege level that is higher than the minimum level required, which creates new weaknesses or amplifies the consequences of other weaknesses.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-120814
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Affected Versions
MongoDB Server:- Version 9.0.0 and below 9.0.7 is affected.
- Version 8.3.0 and below 8.3.16 is affected.
- Version 8.0.0 and below 8.0.37 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.