Apache Roller: Commenter email addresses recoverable through public search
Summary
Apache Roller 4.0 through 6.1.6 stores commenter email addresses in its public search index. An unauthenticated visitor can query this field, including wildcard queries, to confirm and recover email addresses of people who left approved comments. The issue affects weblogs with comments and public weblog search enabled.
Affected
- Apache Roller 4.0 through 6.1.6
Fixed in
- Apache Roller 6.1.7 or later (rebuild the search index after upgrading)
Workaround
- No vendor workaround is documented.
- Interim option (not from the vendor): disable the public weblog search function until patched, if the blog does not need it.
Exploitation
- Not known to be exploited in the wild at the time of writing.
- No public proof of concept found at the time of writing.
Our recommendation
- Identify Roller instances running version 4.0 to 6.1.6.
- Upgrade to Apache Roller 6.1.7 or later and rebuild the search index.
- Verify that public search no longer accepts queries on email fields.
- If Roller is not in use, this CVE does not apply.
- Monitor the Apache advisory and NVD for updates.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- CVE Record CVE-2026-118409 www.cve.org
- GitHub Pull Request #225 apache/roller github.com
- Apache Lists thread lists.apache.org
- Strix CVE-2026-118409 www.strix.ai
- Offseq CVE-2026-118409 radar.offseq.com
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 11 Nov 2026, 17:44.
Original description (NVD)
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor in Apache Roller 4.0 through 6.1.6 allows an unauthenticated visitor to recover the email addresses of people who left approved comments. The search index stored commenter email addresses, and the public weblog search accepted queries on that field, including wildcard queries that confirm an address one character at a time. Users are recommended to upgrade to Apache Roller 6.1.7 or later and rebuild the search index.
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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