Auth bypass in 0xjacky Nginx-Ui

CVE-2026-33032

Nginx UI is a web user interface for the Nginx web server. In versions 2.3.5 and prior, the nginx-ui MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration exposes two HTTP endpoints: /mcp and /mcp_message. While /mcp requires both IP whitelisting and authentication (AuthRequired() middleware), the /mcp_message endpoint only applies IP whitelisting - and the default IP whitelist is empty, which the middleware treats as "allow all". This means any network attacker can invoke all MCP tools without authentication, including restarting nginx, creating/modifying/deleting nginx configuration files, and triggering automatic config reloads - achieving complete nginx service takeover. At time of publication, there are no publicly available patches.

Vulnerability class: Broken Authentication

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.025 (84.2th percentile), scored .

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 84th percentile — 84.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-33032: fell from 0.363 to 0.025.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.363 · newest: 0.025 · change: -0.338

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-33032?
CVE-2026-33032 is a critical-severity vulnerability in 0xjacky Nginx-Ui, classified under Missing Authentication for Critical Function. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-03-30.
How severe is CVE-2026-33032?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2026-33032 known to be exploited?
4 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.