{"id":"GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26","summary":"Observable Discrepancy in Apache Kafka","details":"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.","aliases":["BIT-kafka-2021-38153","CVE-2021-38153"],"modified":"2026-08-07T08:12:11.139035638Z","published":"2021-09-23T23:18:58Z","database_specific":{"github_reviewed":true,"github_reviewed_at":"2021-09-23T16:45:11Z","nvd_published_at":"2021-09-22T09:15:00Z","cwe_ids":["CWE-203"],"severity":"MODERATE"},"references":[{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-38153"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/apache/kafka"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://kafka.apache.org/cve-list"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r26390c8b09ecfa356582d665b0c01f4cdcf16ac047c85f9f9f06a88c@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r26390c8b09ecfa356582d665b0c01f4cdcf16ac047c85f9f9f06a88c@%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r35322aec467ddae34002690edaa4d9f16e7df9b5bf7164869b75b62c@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r45cc0602d5f2cbb72e48896dfadf5e5b87ed85630449598b40e8f0be@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r45cc0602d5f2cbb72e48896dfadf5e5b87ed85630449598b40e8f0be@%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd9ef217b09fdefaf32a4e1835b59b96629542db57e1f63edb8b006e6@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd9ef217b09fdefaf32a4e1835b59b96629542db57e1f63edb8b006e6@%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://support.confluent.io/hc/en-us/articles/4407632156692-CVE-2021-38153-Confluent-Platform-Vulnerability-Timing-attacks"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2022.html"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11","ecosystem":"Maven","purl":"pkg:maven/org.apache.kafka/kafka_2.11"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.0.0"},{"last_affected":"2.4.1"}]}],"versions":["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"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2021/09/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26.json"}},{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","ecosystem":"Maven","purl":"pkg:maven/org.apache.kafka/kafka_2.12"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.0.0"},{"fixed":"2.6.3"}]}],"versions":["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"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2021/09/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26.json"}},{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","ecosystem":"Maven","purl":"pkg:maven/org.apache.kafka/kafka_2.12"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.7.0"},{"fixed":"2.7.2"}]}],"versions":["2.7.0","2.7.1"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2021/09/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26.json"}},{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","ecosystem":"Maven","purl":"pkg:maven/org.apache.kafka/kafka_2.12"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2021/09/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26.json"}},{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","ecosystem":"Maven","purl":"pkg:maven/org.apache.kafka/kafka_2.13"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.4.0"},{"fixed":"2.6.3"}]}],"versions":["2.4.0","2.4.1","2.5.0","2.5.1","2.6.0","2.6.1","2.6.2"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2021/09/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26.json"}},{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","ecosystem":"Maven","purl":"pkg:maven/org.apache.kafka/kafka_2.13"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.7.0"},{"fixed":"2.7.2"}]}],"versions":["2.7.0","2.7.1"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2021/09/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26.json"}},{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","ecosystem":"Maven","purl":"pkg:maven/org.apache.kafka/kafka_2.13"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2021/09/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26.json"}},{"package":{"name":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","ecosystem"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