Details
## Summary
Kestra's Micronaut **management endpoints are served on port 8081 with no authentication**, even when the main API (port 8080) has basic-auth enabled. Anyone who can reach `:8081` can read `GET /env` (full resolved environment/configuration) and mutate runtime state via `POST /loggers/{name}` (change log levels), among the other management endpoints. Enabling basic-auth creates a false sense of protection because the auth filter only covers `/api/v1/**` on 8080 and never applies to the 8081 management port. The shipped repository contains no statement that 8081 is management-only / must-not-be-exposed, and the vendor's reference `docker-compose.yml` publishes it with no warning.
## Affected
- Product: Kestra (`kestra-io/kestra`), an open-source orchestration/data-pipeline platform (Java / Micronaut).
- Version: **v1.3.29** (confirmed); the management-port exposure is an insecure default of the shipped configuration.
- No fix at time of report.
## Technical detail
Kestra runs the Micronaut management/actuator endpoints on a separate HTTP port **8081**. The authentication filter (basic-auth, when configured) is scoped to the main API on port 8080 (`/api/v1/**`) and does not apply to 8081. As a result:
- `GET http://<host>:8081/env` returns the full resolved environment/configuration (property sources), unauthenticated.
- `POST http://<host>:8081/loggers/{name}` changes a logger's level at runtime, unauthenticated (a state-changing operation).
- The other Micronaut management endpoints on 8081 are similarly reachable.
The shipped `application.yml` comments, `SECURITY.md`, and the vendor's reference `docker-compose.yml` do not warn that 8081 must be kept internal, and the reference compose publishes 8081, so a deployment that enables basic-auth on the API still exposes the management port with no auth.
## Impact
An unauthenticated network client that can reach port 8081 can read the full application configuration/environment (`/env`) and change runtime logging (`/loggers`), and reach the other management endpoints — an authentication-bypass on the management surface. (Sensitive credential values in `/env` are masked, so this is scored without a full-secret-read confidentiality impact.)
## Proof of concept
Reproduced live on Kestra v1.3.29 with basic-auth enabled on the main API. Unauthenticated `GET http://<host>:8081/env` returned `200` with the resolved configuration/property sources, and `POST http://<host>:8081/loggers/{name}` returned `200` and changed the logger level — both with no credentials. The equivalent main-API request on 8080 returned `401` (control), confirming the auth filter covers only the API port and not the 8081 management port. (Credential values in `/env` were masked.)
Full request/response captures available on request.
## Remediation
Apply authentication to the management port (bind the Micronaut management endpoints behind the same auth as the API, or require a separate management credential), and by default bind port 8081 to loopback only. At minimum, document prominently (SECURITY.md, application.yml, the reference docker-compose) that port 8081 must never be exposed to untrusted networks, and do not publish 8081 in the reference compose.
## Credit
Reported by **Santosh Kumar Puppala** (GitHub: https://github.com/Santoshkumarpuppala).
EPSS — exploit probability
Low0.23%
estimated chance of real-world exploitation in the next 30 days — higher than 14.2% of every CVE FIRST.org scores
Refreshed 9/17/2026 — via FIRST.org's EPSS model, not CVSS — this measures likelihood of exploitation, not how severe it would be.