CVE-2021-38153 - CVE House
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Status published Medium CVE-2021-38153

Timing Attack Vulnerability for Apache Kafka Connect and Clients

Vulnerability 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.

Impact Analysis

Refer to official advisory for detailed impact metrics.

Remediation

Ensure systems are updated to the latest vendor-supplied patch levels.

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Credits & Attribution

The following person or organization is credited with identifying this vulnerability, as recorded in the NVD database:

  • Apache Kafka would like to thank J. Santilli for reporting this issue.

Affected Vendor

Apache Software Foundation

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Affected Software

Apache Kafka
Vulnerable Versions:
Apache Kafka 2.0.x, Apache Kafka 2.1.x, Apache Kafka 2.2.x, Apache Kafka 2.3.x, Apache Kafka 2.4.x, Apache Kafka 2.5.x, Apache Kafka 2.6.x, Apache Kafka 2.7.x, Apache Kafka 2.8.x

Timeline

Official Publish: September 22nd, 2021
Last Modified: August 4th, 2024
Added to House: July 21st, 2026

CVSS Vectors

V3: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Weaknesses (CWE)