Summary
CVE-2026-86860 is a missing authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) in the ServiceNow AI Platform that allows an unauthenticated attacker to extract instance data beyond what was intended, leading to privilege escalation. The flaw is rated critical (CVSS 9.3) and affects multiple ServiceNow release families across several patch levels. ServiceNow states it is not aware of malicious exploitation and has already applied security updates to its hosted instances.
Technical details
- Root cause: the ServiceNow AI Platform fails to properly enforce authorization checks on certain requests, allowing access to instance data that should require authentication or elevated privileges.
- Trigger conditions: an unauthenticated user sends requests to the affected AI Platform component under certain (unspecified by the vendor) conditions.
- Attack vector: network-based, no authentication or user interaction required.
- Impact: exposure of instance data beyond the intended scope, which can be leveraged for privilege escalation within the affected ServiceNow instance.
Affected software
- ServiceNow AI Platform, Yokohama release — versions before Patch 13 Hot Fix 5a
- ServiceNow AI Platform, Zurich release — versions before Patch 10 Hot Fix 3b
- ServiceNow AI Platform, Zurich release — versions before Patch 10 Hot Fix 4a W32
- ServiceNow AI Platform, Zurich release — versions before Patch 11 Hot Fix 3
- ServiceNow AI Platform, Australia release — versions before Patch 2 Hot Fix 4b W32
- ServiceNow AI Platform, Australia release — versions before Patch 4 Hot Fix 3
- ServiceNow AI Platform, Australia release — versions before Patch 5
Severity
- CVSS v4.0 Base Score: 9.3 (Critical)
- Vector:
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N
Mitigation and recommended actions
- Immediate: Upgrade to the patched release for your track — Yokohama Patch 13 Hot Fix 5a or later, Zurich Patch 10 Hot Fix 3b / Patch 10 Hot Fix 4a W32 / Patch 11 Hot Fix 3 or later, or Australia Patch 2 Hot Fix 4b W32 / Patch 4 Hot Fix 3 / Patch 5 or later, as applicable to your instance track.
- Self-hosted/partner-hosted customers should confirm the security update has been applied, since ServiceNow has already pushed the fix to its own hosted instances but self-hosted/partner environments require customer action.
- If immediate patching is not possible, review authentication and access-control configuration around the ServiceNow AI Platform components and restrict exposure of the affected instance to trusted networks until the update can be applied.

