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Observable Discrepancy in Apache Kafka

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Sep 23, 2021 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Sep 5, 2023

Package

maven org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients (Maven)

Affected versions

>= 2.0.0, < 2.6.3
>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.2
= 2.8.0

Patched versions

2.6.3
2.7.2
2.8.1
maven org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11 (Maven)
>= 2.0.0, <= 2.4.1
None
maven org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12 (Maven)
>= 2.0.0, < 2.6.3
>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.2
= 2.8.0
2.6.3
2.7.2
2.8.1
maven org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13 (Maven)
>= 2.4.0, < 2.6.3
>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.2
= 2.8.0
2.6.3
2.7.2
2.8.1

Description

Some components in Apache Kafka use Arrays.equals to validate a password or key, which is vulnerable to timing attacks that make brute force attacks for such credentials more likely to be successful. Users should upgrade to 2.8.1 or higher, or 3.0.0 or higher where this vulnerability has been fixed. The affected versions include Apache Kafka 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 2.1.0, 2.1.1, 2.2.0, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.3.0, 2.3.1, 2.4.0, 2.4.1, 2.5.0, 2.5.1, 2.6.0, 2.6.1, 2.6.2, 2.7.0, 2.7.1, and 2.8.0.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Sep 22, 2021
Reviewed Sep 23, 2021
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Sep 23, 2021
Last updated Sep 5, 2023

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS score

0.216%
(60th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2021-38153

GHSA ID

GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26

Source code

Credits

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