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CVE-2021-21291

Subdomain checking of whitelisted domains could allow unintended redirects

4.7 MediumFix available

OAuth2 Proxy is an open-source reverse proxy and static file server that provides authentication using Providers (Google, GitHub, and others) to validate accounts by email, domain or group. In OAuth2 Proxy before version 7.0.0, for users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect. For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for ".example.com", the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, "example.com" and "badexample.com" could also match. This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards. As a workaround, one can disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
Required

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

Exploit likelihood

1.59%Up 0.6 points since Apr 14, 2021
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 4.7

Subdomain checking of whitelisted domains could allow unintended redirects

OAuth2 Proxy is an open-source reverse proxy and static file server that provides authentication using Providers (Google, GitHub, and others) to validate accounts by email, domain or group. In OAuth2 Proxy before version 7.0.0, for users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect. For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for ".example.com", the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, "example.com" and "badexample.com" could also match. This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards. As a workaround, one can disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Record
CVE-2021-21291
CVSS 3.1
4.7 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-601
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-0944 4.7

OAuth2 Proxy is an open-source reverse proxy and static file server that provides authentication using Providers (Google, GitHub, and others) to validate accounts by email, domain or group. In OAuth2 Proxy before version 7.0.0, for users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect. For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for ".example.com", the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, "example.com" and "badexample.com" could also match. This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards. As a workaround, one can disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Record
EUVD-2021-0944
CVSS 3.1
4.7 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-4mf2-f3wh-gvf2 5.4

Subdomain checking of whitelisted domains could allow unintended redirects in oauth2-proxy

Impact

What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted? For users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect.

For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for .example.com, the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, example.com and badexample.com could also match.

Patches

Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to? This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards.

Workarounds

Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading? Disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Original Issue Posted by @semoac:

Whitelist Domain feature is not working as expected because is not matching a dot to ensure the redirect is a subdomain.

Expected Behavior

If whitelist domain is set to .example.com , then hack.alienexample.com should be rejected as a valid redirect.

Current Behavior

The code is removing the dot from .example.com and only checking if the redirect string end with example.com

Possible Solution

Here https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/blob/c377466411f2aee180a732187edb638f2f7e57fb/oauthproxy.go#L661

Include the dot when checking the string:

strings.HasSuffix(redirectHostname, "." + domainHostname)

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
)

func validOptionalPort(port string) bool {
	if port == "" || port == ":*" {
		return true
	}
	if port[0] != ':' {
		return false
	}
	for _, b := range port[1:] {
		if b < '0' || b > '9' {
			return false
		}
	}
	return true
}

func splitHostPort(hostport string) (host, port string) {
	host = hostport

	colon := strings.LastIndexByte(host, ':')
	if colon != -1 && validOptionalPort(host[colon:]) {
		host, port = host[:colon], host[colon+1:]
	}

	if strings.HasPrefix(host, "[") && strings.HasSuffix(host, "]") {
		host = host[1 : len(host)-1]
	}

	return
}

func main() {
	domain := ".example.com"
	domainHostname, _ := splitHostPort(strings.TrimLeft(domain, "."))
	redirectHostname := "https://hack.alienexample.com"
	if (strings.HasPrefix(domain, ".") && strings.HasSuffix(redirectHostname, domainHostname)) { fmt.Println("This should not have happen.")}
}

Users of github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy are advised to update to github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/v7

Record
GHSA-4mf2-f3wh-gvf2
CVSS 3.1
5.4 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-601
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 4.7

OAuth2 Proxy is an open-source reverse proxy and static file server that provides authentication using Providers (Google, GitHub, and others) to validate accounts by email, domain or group. In OAuth2 Proxy before version 7.0.0, for users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect. For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for ".example.com", the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, "example.com" and "badexample.com" could also match. This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards. As a workaround, one can disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Record
CVE-2021-21291
CVSS 3.1
4.7 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS 3.1
6.1 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS 2.0
5.8 MediumAV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N
Weakness
CWE-601
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 6.1

OAuth2 Proxy is an open-source reverse proxy and static file server that provides authentication using Providers (Google, GitHub, and others) to validate accounts by email, domain or group. In OAuth2 Proxy before version 7.0.0, for users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect. For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for ".example.com", the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, "example.com" and "badexample.com" could also match. This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards. As a workaround, one can disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Record
CVE-2021-21291
CVSS 3.1
6.1 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-4mf2-f3wh-gvf2 5.4

Subdomain checking of whitelisted domains could allow unintended redirects in oauth2-proxy

Impact

What kind of vulnerability is it? Who is impacted? For users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect.

For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for .example.com, the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, example.com and badexample.com could also match.

Patches

Has the problem been patched? What versions should users upgrade to? This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards.

Workarounds

Is there a way for users to fix or remediate the vulnerability without upgrading? Disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Original Issue Posted by @semoac:

Whitelist Domain feature is not working as expected because is not matching a dot to ensure the redirect is a subdomain.

Expected Behavior

If whitelist domain is set to .example.com , then hack.alienexample.com should be rejected as a valid redirect.

Current Behavior

The code is removing the dot from .example.com and only checking if the redirect string end with example.com

Possible Solution

Here https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/blob/c377466411f2aee180a732187edb638f2f7e57fb/oauthproxy.go#L661

Include the dot when checking the string:

strings.HasSuffix(redirectHostname, "." + domainHostname)

Steps to Reproduce (for bugs)

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
)

func validOptionalPort(port string) bool {
	if port == "" || port == ":*" {
		return true
	}
	if port[0] != ':' {
		return false
	}
	for _, b := range port[1:] {
		if b < '0' || b > '9' {
			return false
		}
	}
	return true
}

func splitHostPort(hostport string) (host, port string) {
	host = hostport

	colon := strings.LastIndexByte(host, ':')
	if colon != -1 && validOptionalPort(host[colon:]) {
		host, port = host[:colon], host[colon+1:]
	}

	if strings.HasPrefix(host, "[") && strings.HasSuffix(host, "]") {
		host = host[1 : len(host)-1]
	}

	return
}

func main() {
	domain := ".example.com"
	domainHostname, _ := splitHostPort(strings.TrimLeft(domain, "."))
	redirectHostname := "https://hack.alienexample.com"
	if (strings.HasPrefix(domain, ".") && strings.HasSuffix(redirectHostname, domainHostname)) { fmt.Println("This should not have happen.")}
}

Users of github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy are advised to update to github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/v7

Record
GHSA-4mf2-f3wh-gvf2
CVSS 3.1
5.4 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-601
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-oauth2-proxy-2021-21291 No score

Subdomain checking of whitelisted domains could allow unintended redirects

OAuth2 Proxy is an open-source reverse proxy and static file server that provides authentication using Providers (Google, GitHub, and others) to validate accounts by email, domain or group. In OAuth2 Proxy before version 7.0.0, for users that use the whitelist domain feature, a domain that ended in a similar way to the intended domain could have been allowed as a redirect. For example, if a whitelist domain was configured for ".example.com", the intention is that subdomains of example.com are allowed. Instead, "example.com" and "badexample.com" could also match. This is fixed in version 7.0.0 onwards. As a workaround, one can disable the whitelist domain feature and run separate OAuth2 Proxy instances for each subdomain.

Record
BIT-oauth2-proxy-2021-21291
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGO-2022-0790 No score

Subdomain checking of whitelisted domains could allow unintended redirects in oauth2-proxy in github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy

Subdomain checking of whitelisted domains could allow unintended redirects in oauth2-proxy in github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy

Record
GO-2022-0790
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/v7
Go
before 7.0.0
7.0.0
github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy
Go
through 3.2.0 None known
oauth2-proxy
Bitnami
before 7.0.0
7.0.0
github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy
Go
All versions None known

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliasesEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2021-21291 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.7) in Oauth2 Proxy Project Proxy, published February 2, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.59%, the 75th percentile. Fixed in github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/v7 7.0.0.

References

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