Critical Authentication

CVE-2026-13020 — Weak Password Recovery Mechanism in Portal for ArcGIS

A Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password exists in Esri Portal for ArcGIS versions 12.1 and earlier on Windows, Linux and Kubernetes. A remote, unauthorized attacker may assume ownership of a user’s account by manipulating this mechanism. ArcGIS Administrators should configure an email server with ArcGIS Enterprise to facilitate user self-service password recovery. The ability for an administrator to reset a user’s password remains unchanged.

Published Jul 7, 2026 · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: Esri

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

Technical severity (critical)+10

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

—

No EPSS score.

Affects

Esri

Portal For Arcgis

CVSS base

9.8

Critical · 3 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Esri Portal For Arcgis).
The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (authentication), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Esri	Portal For Arcgis	≤ 12.1	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Esri	Portal For Arcgis	< 12.1	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Network

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

None

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
9.8	CVSS 3.1	Critical	3.9	5.9	nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
8.1	CVSS 3.1	High	2.2	5.9	psirt@esri.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
8.1	CVSS 3.1	High	—	—	Esri via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

Scoring entities (NIST, CNA, ADP) score independently; each score is shown with its origin. For prioritization we use 9.8 (NVD (NIST)) as a conservative provisional reference — not a definitive official score.

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-640 · Weak Password Recovery Mechanism

Other CVEs with this weakness →

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
Review authentication logs: logins without MFA, anomalous sessions and recently created accounts.

web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSauthentication logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · esri/portal for arcgis
Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 15, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 15, 2026
CVSS changed · 9.8
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Analyzed
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Jul 7, 2026 · Esri

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026

References

1 on the record

www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/trust-arcgis/administration/june-2026-arcgis-sec
Vendor Advisory, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Esri
every CVE for this vendor

Authentication
same class

CWE-640
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

Medium CVE-2026-69226 A flaw in Portal for ArcGIS allows unauthenticated users to create new accounts through the... 2d
Critical CVE-2026-69227 A flaw in Portal for ArcGIS allows unauthenticated access to certain /portaladmin/local API... 2d
Medium CVE-2026-10759 A flaw in Portal for ArcGIS could allow LDAP injection through administrative functionality that... 2d
Medium CVE-2026-69234 reflected cross site scripting vulnerability in Esri Portal for ArcGIS Aug 21, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-69236 stored cross site scripting issue in Esri Portal for ArcGIS Aug 21, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-69235 stored cross site scripting issue in Esri Portal for ArcGIS Aug 21, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No FIRST EPSS score.
No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-13020 is "Weak Password Recovery Mechanism in Portal for ArcGIS", rated Critical. It affects Portal For Arcgis (Esri); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 9.8 describes technical severity. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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