⚠ Reference material — not professional advice. Test in staging, back up first, verify against your specific version. Use your own judgment for your environment.
● Critical · CVSS 9.8

How to Fix CVE-2026-2635: Hard-coded Credentials in MLflow

Other vulnerabilities in the same area that are worth patching alongside this one:

*By Sai Kiran Pandrala*

⚡ At a glance
SeverityCVSS 9.8 - Critical
Actively exploited?Not currently listed in CISA KEV
Affected3.4.0
Fixed inSee vendor advisory
Type (CWE)CWE-1393: Use of Default Password

What is CVE-2026-2635?

CVE-2026-2635 is a hard-coded credentials issue in MLflow. The product ships with a built-in account or key that anyone with a copy of the software can recover and use to log in. Vendor description: MLflow Use of Default Password Authentication Bypass Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to bypass authentication on affected installations of MLflow.

Why this CVE matters

Hard-coded credentials are the lowest-effort path to compromise. Once the secret is reverse-engineered out of the firmware or source, every deployment of the same version is reachable by anyone with the advisory text.

For deployments of MLflow that have been exposed to the public internet during the disclosure window, the operating assumption should be that scanning has already happened. Even where exploitation has not been publicly observed, scanning for the vulnerable fingerprint is cheap and routine. Patching closes the door; log review and credential rotation close out the rest of the response.

Am I affected?

You are affected if your installation matches any of these version ranges:

Check your installed version against the list above. If you cannot determine the version, treat the system as affected and follow the upgrade path below.

Open MLflow's About dialog or run the vendor-documented version-check command. Compare the result against the affected ranges in the advisory.

How to fix CVE-2026-2635

  1. Read the vendor advisory in full: https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-26-111/
  2. Upgrade MLflow to the patched build listed in the vendor advisory.
  3. Back up the configuration (and database, where applicable) before upgrading.
  4. Apply the patch in a maintenance window. For HA pairs, upgrade the standby node first, fail over, then upgrade the former primary.
  5. Restart the affected service so the patched binary loads, then verify the new version (see verification section).

The commands below are runnable starting points. Adapt the package name, target version, and host paths to your environment using the vendor advisory linked under References.

npm / Yarn / pnpm


# Vendor advisory: https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-26-111/
# Update to the patched release named in the advisory
npm install mlflow@latest
# or pin to the exact fixed version from the vendor advisory
npm install mlflow@<patched-version>
npm ls mlflow

PyPI (pip / Poetry)


# Vendor advisory: https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-26-111/
pip install --upgrade mlflow
pip show mlflow | grep -i version
# Poetry:
poetry add mlflow@^<patched-version>

Docker / container


# Vendor advisory: https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-26-111/
docker pull <your-registry>/mlflow:<patched-tag>
docker stop <app> && docker rm <app>
docker run -d --name <app> <your-registry>/mlflow:<patched-tag>

PowerShell detect/upgrade/verify/log (Windows)


# CVE-2026-2635 remediation runner. Adapt version checks to your environment.
$log = "C:\Logs\CVE-2026-2635-fix.log"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path (Split-Path $log) | Out-Null
function Write-Log($msg) { "$(Get-Date -Format s) $msg" | Out-File $log -Append }

try {
    Write-Log "Detect: checking installed product"
    $installed = Get-CimInstance Win32_Product -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
        Where-Object { $_.Name -match 'MLflow' }
    if (-not $installed) { Write-Log "Product not installed; nothing to do"; return }
    Write-Log "Found version $($installed.Version)"

    Write-Log "Backup: copying program files and registry hive"
    $stamp = Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd-HHmm
    $backup = "C:\Backup\CVE-2026-2635-$stamp"
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $backup | Out-Null
    Copy-Item $installed.InstallLocation $backup -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    reg export HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall "$backup\uninstall.reg" /y | Out-Null

    Write-Log "Upgrade: install patched build via vendor MSI / Windows Update"
    Install-WindowsUpdate -AcceptAll -AutoReboot -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    Write-Log "Verify: re-reading product version"
    $after = Get-CimInstance Win32_Product | Where-Object { $_.Name -match 'MLflow' }
    Write-Log "Post-patch version: $($after.Version)"
    if ($after.Version -ne $installed.Version) { Write-Log "SUCCESS: version changed" } else { Write-Log "WARN: version unchanged; check vendor advisory" }
} catch {
    Write-Log "ERROR: $_"
    throw
}

Bash detect/upgrade/verify/log (Linux)


#!/usr/bin/env bash
# CVE-2026-2635 remediation runner. Re-runnable, exits non-zero on failure.
set -euo pipefail
log() { printf '%s %s\n' "$(date -Is)" "$*" | tee -a /var/log/cve-2026-2635-fix.log; }

log "Detect: current mlflow version"
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    current=$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' mlflow 2>/dev/null || echo "not-installed")
elif command -v rpm >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    current=$(rpm -q --qf '%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}' mlflow 2>/dev/null || echo "not-installed")
else
    current="unknown"
fi
log "Current: $current"

log "Backup: snapshotting config"
backup="/var/backups/cve-2026-2635-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)"
mkdir -p "$backup"
[ -d /etc/mlflow ] && cp -a /etc/mlflow "$backup/" || true

log "Upgrade: applying vendor patch"
if command -v apt-get >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    sudo apt-get update -qq
    sudo apt-get install -y --only-upgrade mlflow
elif command -v dnf >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    sudo dnf upgrade -y mlflow
elif command -v yum >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    sudo yum update -y mlflow
fi

log "Verify: re-reading mlflow version"
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    after=$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' mlflow)
else
    after=$(rpm -q --qf '%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}' mlflow)
fi
log "After: $after"

if [ "$after" != "$current" ]; then
    log "SUCCESS: mlflow upgraded"
else
    log "WARN: version unchanged. Confirm the patched build is in your repository."
    exit 1
fi

If you cannot patch immediately

No official workaround exists beyond restricting network exposure to the affected component. Apply the vendor patch as the primary remediation.

How to verify the fix worked

If your installation was internet-reachable during the disclosure window, treat log review as part of the remediation rather than an optional follow-up. Look for unexpected administrator accounts in MLflow, scheduled tasks or cron jobs you did not create, new files in web-accessible directories, and outbound connections to addresses not in your baseline. Suspicious requests to the vulnerable endpoint immediately followed by successful 200-class responses with unusually large bodies are a strong indicator of exploitation.

Frequently asked questions

Is CVE-2026-2635 being exploited in the wild?

Public exploitation has not been confirmed by CISA at the time of writing. Treat the patch as time-sensitive anyway; reports often lag actual abuse.

Will a WAF or IDS rule fully mitigate CVE-2026-2635?

No. Network-layer filters can reduce noise and slow opportunistic scanners, but they will not stop a determined attacker. The vendor patch is the only durable fix.

How long should I plan for the upgrade?

Typical vendor-documented upgrade windows for MLflow run from a few minutes to under an hour depending on cluster size. Test in a staging environment first and follow the vendor's documented HA upgrade order.

References

*This guide was assembled from the official vendor advisory, the NVD record, and the CISA KEV catalog entry on 2026-05-25. Always confirm against the vendor advisory before applying changes in production.*