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Zookeeper CVE-2023-44981

CRITICAL
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (CWE-639)
2023-10-11 security@apache.org
9.1
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
9.1 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

1
CVE Published
Oct 11, 2023 - 12:15 nvd
CRITICAL 9.1

Blast Radius

ecosystem impact
† from your stack dependencies † transitive graph · vuln.today resolves 4-path depth
  • 461 maven packages depend on org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper (90 direct, 372 indirect)

Ecosystem-wide dependent count for version 3.8.0.

DescriptionNVD

Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Apache ZooKeeper. If SASL Quorum Peer authentication is enabled in ZooKeeper (quorum.auth.enableSasl=true), the authorization is done by verifying that the instance part in SASL authentication ID is listed in zoo.cfg server list. The instance part in SASL auth ID is optional and if it's missing, like 'eve@EXAMPLE.COM', the authorization check will be skipped. As a result an arbitrary endpoint could join the cluster and begin propagating counterfeit changes to the leader, essentially giving it complete read-write access to the data tree. Quorum Peer authentication is not enabled by default.

Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.9.1, 3.8.3, 3.7.2, which fixes the issue.

Alternately ensure the ensemble election/quorum communication is protected by a firewall as this will mitigate the issue.

See the documentation for more details on correct cluster administration.

AnalysisAI

Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Apache ZooKeeper. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.1), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

Technical ContextAI

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-639. Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Apache ZooKeeper. If SASL Quorum Peer authentication is enabled in ZooKeeper (quorum.auth.enableSasl=true), the authorization is done by verifying that the instance part in SASL authentication ID is listed in zoo.cfg server list. The instance part in SASL auth ID is optional and if it's missing, like 'eve@EXAMPLE.COM', the authorization check will be skipped. As a result an arbitrary endpoint could join the cluster and begin propagating counterfeit changes to the leader, essentially giving it complete read-write access to the data tree. Quorum Peer authentication is not enabled by default. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.9.1, 3.8.3, 3.7.2, which fixes the issue. Alternately ensure the ensemble election/quorum communication is protected by a firewall as this will mitigate the issue. See the documentation for more details on correct cluster administration. Affected products include: Apache Zookeeper, Debian Debian Linux. Version information: version 3.9.1.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.

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CVE-2023-44981 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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