CVE-2021-38153 vulnerability in Apache and Other Products
Published on September 22, 2021

Timing Attack Vulnerability for Apache Kafka Connect and Clients

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.

NVD

Weakness Type

What is a Side Channel Attack Vulnerability?

The product behaves differently or sends different responses under different circumstances in a way that is observable to an unauthorized actor, which exposes security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not. Discrepancies can take many forms, and variations may be detectable in timing, control flow, communications such as replies or requests, or general behavior. These discrepancies can reveal information about the product's operation or internal state to an unauthorized actor. In some cases, discrepancies can be used by attackers to form a side channel.

CVE-2021-38153 has been classified to as a Side Channel Attack vulnerability or weakness.

Products Associated with CVE-2021-38153

You can be notified by email with stack.watch whenever vulnerabilities like CVE-2021-38153 are published in these products:

Apache Kafka

Quarkus

Oracle Primavera Unifier

Oracle Financial Services Enterprise Case Management

Oracle Financial Services Behavior Detection Platform

Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy

Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications Infrastructure

Oracle Communications Brm Elastic Charging Engine

Affected Versions

Apache Software Foundation Apache Kafka:

Version Apache Kafka 2.0.x, <= 2.0.1 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.1.x, <= 2.1.1 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.2.x, <= 2.2.2 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.3.x, <= 2.3.1 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.4.x, <= 2.4.1 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.5.x, <= 2.5.1 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.6.x, <= 2.6.2 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.7.x, <= 2.7.1 is affected.
Version Apache Kafka 2.8.x, <= 2.8.0 is affected.

Exploit Probability

EPSS

1.43%

Percentile

80.40%