High-severity privilege escalation in a widely used enterprise database (MarkLogic). Enables unauthorized access/modification of security-critical data; IT and DB teams should be notified immediately.
CVE-2026-85956
MarkLogic privilege escalation via out-of-scope backup/restore (unauthorized data access).
Is CVE-2026-85956 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-85956 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.31% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-85956?
CVE-2026-85956 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.6. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-85956?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-85956. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-85956 affect?
CVE-2026-85956 affects Progress MarkLogic Server 12.x < 12.1.0, Progress MarkLogic Server 11.x < 11.3.7. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-85956?
Upgrade to 12.1.0 or 11.3.7 and audit/restrict delegated DB-admin accounts
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Delegated DB-admin can backup/restore forests outside scope, enabling unauthorized read/write of security-critical data and privilege escalation.
Immediate action required
- affected>= 11.0.0 and < 11.3.7
- affected>= 12.0.0 and < 12.1.0
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.