Information Exposure Through Timing Discrepancy in Apache Kafka - CVE-2021-38153
Published: September 21, 2021
Vulnerability identifier: #VU56790
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear
CVE-ID: CVE-2021-38153
CWE-ID: CWE-208
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Apache Foundation
Affected software:
Apache Kafka
Apache Kafka
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.
the vulnerability exists due to some components in Apache Kafka use "Arrays.equals" to validate a password or key, which is vulnerable to timing attacks. A local user can abuse the "Arrays.equals" to brute force access credentials and escalate privileges on the system.
How to mitigate CVE-2021-38153
Install updates from vendor's website.