CRE-2025-0045
NATS Authorization Failure DetectedMediumImpact: 4/10Mitigation: 4/10
Description
The NATS server has emitted an **Authorization Violation** log entry, meaning a client attempted to connect, publish, subscribe, or perform another operation for which it lacks permission. Intermittent violations often point to misconfiguration or start-up chaos. However, sustained or widespread violations can signal credential expiry or missing secrets.
Mitigation
- **Verify credentials** – confirm the `.creds`, NKey, or JWT files in the client deployment are correct and unexpired. - **Check permissions** – in the server configuration (`authorization {}`) or the account JWT, ensure the user/account is allowed to perform the attempted PUB/SUB/CONNECT operation. - **Rotate or re-issue keys/JWTs** if credentials are compromised or expired, and update all clients. - **Synchronize clocks** on clients and servers via NTP to avoid JWT time-skew errors. - **Audit repeated failures** – turn on verbose server logs temporarily and review for malicious activity or configuration drift.