Medium [CVE-2026-72815] go-chi chi: IP spoofing via X-Forwarded-For header allows bypass of access controls
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-72815 affecting Red Hat Hardened Images, Cryostat 4, External Secrets Operator for Red Hat OpenShift.
Aggregated and source-linked by VulniPulse. Data sources, validation and limitations.
VulniPulse record published Record updated
Android app · Google Play
Monitor future Red Hat Linux CVEs from your phone.
Choose a whole vendor or a precise platform, then receive matching security advisories by phone notification, email, or both. Coverage follows 34 official vendor sources and 160+ reviewed platform categories.
Summary
go-chi chi versions >= 5.2.1 and before 5.3.0 contain an IP spoofing vulnerability in the RealIP middleware, which blindly trusts the first (leftmost) value of the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header.
A remote attacker can bypass IP-based access control lists and rate-limiting mechanisms, and forge log entries, by supplying a spoofed IP address in the X-Forwarded-For header. The issue is fixed in version 5.3.0.
When parsing incoming HTTP requests, the middleware blindly trusts the leftmost IP address in the X-Forwarded-For header without verifying proxy chain trust.
Remote unauthenticated attackers can supply arbitrary client IP addresses to bypass IP-based access control lists (ACLs), evade rate-limiting rules, or forge audit trail logs, posing a Low impact to confidentiality and integrity. Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 6.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N).
Weakness: CWE-940.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images; Cryostat 4; External Secrets Operator for Red Hat OpenShift; Gatekeeper 3; and 12 more.
- < 5.2.1
- < 5.3.0
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 24 days ago·verify at source
- 5.3.0
- spire1-14-main-1.14.7-0.4.hum1
- spire1-15-main-1.15.2-0.4.hum1
- prometheus3-13-main-3.13.2-0.2.hum1
- cosign-main-3.1.3-0.1.hum1
- RHSA-2026:49718
- RHSA-2026:49732
- RHSA-2026:50287
- RHSA-2026:54420
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 24 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- Do not rely on the `RealIP` middleware when accepting connections from untrusted networks. Instead, configure an upstream reverse proxy (such as NGINX or HAProxy) to overwrite or sanitize client-supplied `X-Forwarded-For` headers before forwarding traffic to the application.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 24 days ago·verify at source
Discussion(0)
No comments yet. Share field notes, upgrade gotchas, or questions — verify against the vendor advisory before acting on community advice.
Sign in to join the discussion.