---
id: CVE-2026-53603
title: nebula-mesh is a self-hosted control plane for Slack Nebula mesh VPN
summary: >-
  nebula-mesh is a self-hosted control plane for Slack Nebula mesh VPN. Prior to
  version 0.3.8, Operator session tokens are stored in plaintext in the
  operator_sessions table (the token column is the PRIMARY KEY). The session
  token is a 32…
severity: high
cvss: 7.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-312
  - CWE-522
vendor: forgekeep
product: nebula-mesh
affected:
  - nebula-mesh < 0.3.8
patched:
  - github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh 0.3.8
published: '2026-09-04'
updated: '2026-09-08'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-08T21:05:26.920'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53603'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/commit/7cb01bab281ded557f8b6c81dab5f48d4c10182e
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/releases/tag/v0.3.8'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/security/advisories/GHSA-q4vm-pq3q-8wgq
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-q4vm-pq3q-8wgq'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - ghsa
  - go
epss: 0.00352
epssPercentile: 0.26191
aliases:
  - GHSA-q4vm-pq3q-8wgq
ecosystem: go
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-08T17:48:58.655747Z'
cvssSource: cna
ingestedAt: '2026-07-14T20:39:11.207Z'
---

## Overview

nebula-mesh is a self-hosted control plane for Slack Nebula mesh VPN. Prior to version 0.3.8, Operator session tokens are stored in plaintext in the operator_sessions table (the token column is the PRIMARY KEY). The session token is a 32-byte random hex value sent directly in a cookie and valid for 24 hours. Anyone who can read the database (backup, snapshot, file copy, or SQL-level disclosure) obtains every active session token and can hijack operator sessions directly, with no further authentication. This issue has been patched in version 0.3.8.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Package advisory (CVE-2026-53603)

Affected packages:

- `github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh <= 0.3.7`

Patched in:

- `github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh 0.3.8`

Source: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-q4vm-pq3q-8wgq