GHSA-3rh2-v3gr-35p9
MinIO is Vulnerable to SSE Metadata Injection via Replication Headers
Details
## Impact
_What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted?_
A flaw in `extractMetadataFromMime()` allows any authenticated user with `s3:PutObject` permission to inject internal server-side encryption metadata into objects by sending crafted `X-Minio-Replication-*` headers on a normal PutObject request. The server unconditionally maps these headers to `X-Minio-Internal-*` encryption metadata without verifying that the request is a legitimate replication request. Objects written this way carry bogus encryption keys and become **permanently unreadable** through the S3 API.
Any authenticated user or service with `s3:PutObject` permission on any bucket can make objects permanently unreadable by injecting fake SSE encryption metadata. The attacker sends a standard PutObject request with `X-Minio-Replication-Server-Side-Encryption-*` headers but **without** the `X-Minio-Source-Replication-Request` header that marks legitimate replication traffic. The server maps these headers to internal encryption metadata (`X-Minio-Internal-Server-Side-Encryption-Sealed-Key`, etc.), causing all subsequent GetObject and HeadObject calls to treat the object as encrypted with keys that do not exist.
This is a targeted denial-of-service vulnerability. An attacker can selectively corrupt individual objects or entire buckets. The `ReplicateObjectAction` IAM permission is never checked because the request is a normal PutObject, not a replication request.
**Affected component:** `cmd/handler-utils.go`, function `extractMetadataFromMime()`.
## Affected Versions
All MinIO releases through the final release of the minio/minio open-source project.
The vulnerability was introduced in commit `468a9fae83e965ecefa1c1fdc2fc57b84ece95b0` ("Enable replication of SSE-C objects", [PR #19107](https://github.com/minio/minio/pull/19107), 2024-03-28). The first affected release is `RELEASE.2024-03-30T09-41-56Z`.
## Patches
**Fixed in**: MinIO AIStor RELEASE.2026-03-26T21-24-40Z
### Binary Downloads
| Platform | Architecture | Download | | -------- | ------------ | -------- | | Linux | amd64 | [minio](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-amd64/minio) | | Linux | arm64 | [minio](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-arm64/minio) | | macOS | arm64 | [minio](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/darwin-arm64/minio) | | macOS | amd64 | [minio](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/darwin-amd64/minio) | | Windows | amd64 | [minio.exe](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/windows-amd64/minio.exe) |
### FIPS Binaries
| Platform | Architecture | Download | | -------- | ------------ | -------- | | Linux | amd64 | [minio.fips](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-amd64/minio.fips) | | Linux | arm64 | [minio.fips](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-arm64/minio.fips) |
### Package Downloads
| Format | Architecture | Download | | ------ | ------------ | -------- | | DEB | amd64 | [minio_20260326212440.0.0_amd64.deb](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-amd64/minio_20260326212440.0.0_amd64.deb) | | DEB | arm64 | [minio_20260326212440.0.0_arm64.deb](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-arm64/minio_20260326212440.0.0_arm64.deb) | | RPM | amd64 | [minio-20260326212440.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-amd64/minio-20260326212440.0.0-1.x86_64.rpm) | | RPM | arm64 | [minio-20260326212440.0.0-1.aarch64.rpm](https://dl.min.io/aistor/minio/release/linux-arm64/minio-20260326212440.0.0-1.aarch64.rpm) |
### Container Images
```bash # Standard docker pull quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2026-03-26T21-24-40Z podman pull quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2026-03-26T21-24-40Z
# FIPS docker pull quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2026-03-26T21-24-40Z.fips podman pull quay.io/minio/aistor/minio:RELEASE.2026-03-26T21-24-40Z.fips ```
### Homebrew (macOS)
```bash brew install minio/aistor/minio ```
## Workarounds
[Users of the open-source `minio/minio` project should upgrade to MinIO AIStor `RELEASE.2026-03-26T21-24-40Z` or later.](https://docs.min.io/enterprise/aistor-object-store/upgrade-aistor-server/community-edition/)
If upgrading is not immediately possible:
- **Restrict replication headers at a reverse proxy / load balancer.** Drop or reject any request containing `X-Minio-Replication-Server-Side-Encryption-*` headers that does not also carry `X-Minio-Source-Replication-Request`. This blocks the injection path without modifying the server.
- **Audit IAM policies.** Limit `s3:PutObject` grants to trusted principals. While this reduces the attack surface, it does not eliminate the vulnerability since any authorized user can exploit it.
## References
- Introducing commit: [`468a9fae8`](https://github.com/minio/minio/commit/468a9fae83e965ecefa1c1fdc2fc57b84ece95b0) ([PR #19107](https://github.com/minio/minio/pull/19107)) - [MinIO AIStor](https://min.io/aistor)
Are you affected?
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Affected packages
0.0.0-20240328174456-468a9fae83e9No fixed version published yet for github.com/minio/minio (go modules). Pin to a known-safe version or switch to an alternative.