rclone serve s3: --auth-proxy without --auth-key authenticates nobody - full SigV4 signature bypass
CVE-2026-88018
rclone is a command-line program to sync files and directories to and from different cloud storage providers. Prior to 1.75.1, rclone serve s3 configured with --auth-proxy but without --auth-key allows authPairMiddleware to register any client-chosen accessKeyID with an empty ws.s3Secret. gofakes3 then verifies the request’s SigV4 signature against that same empty secret, while Server.auth passes the access key identifier as both the user and authentication value to the proxy without an independent per-identity secret. An unauthenticated network attacker can therefore choose an arbitrary access key, sign with an empty secret, and reach whatever backend the auth-proxy script resolves for that identity. This issue is fixed in version 1.75.1.
Authentication BypassNo Active Exploit Signals
CVSS Base Score
9.8
CRITICAL
Exploitability:3.9
Impact Score:5.9
Executive Threat Verdict
Evaluating...
Evaluating Threat Landscape...
Assessing known weaponization, exploitation telemetry, and federal advisories.
Attack Surface
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Authentication
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Weaponization
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SSVC Action
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CISA BINDING OPERATIONAL DIRECTIVE (BOD 22-01)Mandatory Federal Remediation
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