{"id":"CVE-2021-38153","aliases":["BIT-kafka-2021-38153","EUVD-2021-1963","GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26","UBUNTU-CVE-2021-38153"],"status":"published","title":"Timing Attack Vulnerability for Apache Kafka Connect and Clients","description":"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.","severity":{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N","level":"medium","assessor":"primary","from":"nvd"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-10","score":0.06201,"percentile":0.9357,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":true},"cwes":["CWE-203"],"published":"2021-09-22T09:05:11Z","modified":"2026-10-24T10:30:35Z","fixes":[{"ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","fixed_in":["2.6.3","2.7.2","2.8.1"],"sources":["ghsa","osv"]},{"ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","fixed_in":["2.6.3","2.7.2","2.8.1"],"sources":["ghsa","osv"]},{"ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","fixed_in":["2.6.3","2.7.2","2.8.1"],"sources":["ghsa","osv"]},{"ecosystem":"Bitnami","package":"kafka","fixed_in":["2.6.3","2.7.2","2.8.1"],"sources":["osv"]}],"affected":[{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.0.0"},{"last_affected":"2.4.1"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.0.0"},{"fixed":"2.6.3"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.7.0"},{"fixed":"2.7.2"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"last_affected":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.4.0"},{"fixed":"2.6.3"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.7.0"},{"fixed":"2.7.2"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"last_affected":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.0.0"},{"fixed":"2.6.3"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.7.0"},{"fixed":"2.7.2"}]}]},{"source":"ghsa","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"last_affected":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Bitnami","package":"kafka","ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"2.0.0"},{"fixed":"2.6.3"},{"introduced":"2.7.0"},{"fixed":"2.7.2"},{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"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"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"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"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"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"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"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"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"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"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","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"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.7.0"},{"fixed":"2.7.2"}]}],"versions":["2.7.0","2.7.1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Maven","package":"org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"2.8.0"},{"fixed":"2.8.1"}]}],"versions":["2.8.0"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS","package":"kafka","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["2.2.0u2-0ubuntu3.1","2.2.0u2-0ubuntu3.2","2.2.2u1-0ubuntu1+esm2"]}],"products":[{"vendor":"apache","product":"kafka"},{"vendor":"apache software foundation","product":"apache kafka"},{"vendor":"oracle","product":"communications_brm_-_elastic_charging_engine"},{"vendor":"oracle","product":"communications_cloud_native_core_policy"},{"vendor":"oracle","product":"financial_services_analytical_applications_infrastructure"},{"vendor":"oracle","product":"financial_services_behavior_detection_platform"},{"vendor":"oracle","product":"financial_services_enterprise_case_management"},{"vendor":"oracle","product":"primavera_unifier"},{"vendor":"quarkus","product":"quarkus"}],"references":[{"url":"https://kafka.apache.org/cve-list","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Vendor Advisory","advisory","web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r35322aec467ddae34002690edaa4d9f16e7df9b5bf7164869b75b62c%40%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["mailing-list","x_refsource_MLIST","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r45cc0602d5f2cbb72e48896dfadf5e5b87ed85630449598b40e8f0be%40%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["mailing-list","x_refsource_MLIST","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r45cc0602d5f2cbb72e48896dfadf5e5b87ed85630449598b40e8f0be%40%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["mailing-list","x_refsource_MLIST","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd9ef217b09fdefaf32a4e1835b59b96629542db57e1f63edb8b006e6%40%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["mailing-list","x_refsource_MLIST","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd9ef217b09fdefaf32a4e1835b59b96629542db57e1f63edb8b006e6%40%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["mailing-list","x_refsource_MLIST","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r26390c8b09ecfa356582d665b0c01f4cdcf16ac047c85f9f9f06a88c%40%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["mailing-list","x_refsource_MLIST","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r26390c8b09ecfa356582d665b0c01f4cdcf16ac047c85f9f9f06a88c%40%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["mailing-list","x_refsource_MLIST","x_transferred","web"]},{"url":"https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Third Party Advisory","advisory","web"]},{"url":"https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Patch","Third Party Advisory","advisory","fix","web"]},{"url":"https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2022.html","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Third Party Advisory","advisory","web"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-38153","tags":["web","advisory"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r35322aec467ddae34002690edaa4d9f16e7df9b5bf7164869b75b62c@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r45cc0602d5f2cbb72e48896dfadf5e5b87ed85630449598b40e8f0be@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r45cc0602d5f2cbb72e48896dfadf5e5b87ed85630449598b40e8f0be@%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd9ef217b09fdefaf32a4e1835b59b96629542db57e1f63edb8b006e6@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd9ef217b09fdefaf32a4e1835b59b96629542db57e1f63edb8b006e6@%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r26390c8b09ecfa356582d665b0c01f4cdcf16ac047c85f9f9f06a88c@%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r26390c8b09ecfa356582d665b0c01f4cdcf16ac047c85f9f9f06a88c@%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://support.confluent.io/hc/en-us/articles/4407632156692-CVE-2021-38153-Confluent-Platform-Vulnerability-Timing-attacks","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/kafka","tags":["package"]},{"url":"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-38153","tags":["report"]},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-38153","tags":["report"]}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2021-38153","title":"Timing Attack Vulnerability for Apache Kafka Connect and Clients","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-09-22T09:05:11Z","modified":"2024-08-04T01:37:15.929Z","cwes":["CWE-203"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:33:07.349244Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2021-1963","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-09-22T09:05:11Z","modified":"2024-08-04T01:37:15Z","updated_at":"2026-11-03T03:24:25.678078Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26","title":"Observable Discrepancy in Apache Kafka","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-09-23T23:18:58Z","modified":"2023-09-05T21:57:08Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-203"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:37:02.095916Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2021-38153","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-09-22T09:15:07.847Z","modified":"2026-06-17T04:01:35.023Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N","level":"medium","assessor":"primary"},{"version":"2.0","score":4.3,"vector":"AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N","level":"medium","assessor":"primary"}],"cwes":["CWE-203"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:06:58.933037Z"}],"osv":[{"id":"CVE-2021-38153","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-09-22T09:15:07.847Z","modified":"2026-10-24T10:30:35.034542006Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:44:20.843843Z"},{"id":"GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26","title":"Observable Discrepancy in Apache Kafka","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-09-23T23:18:58Z","modified":"2026-08-07T08:12:11.139035638Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-203"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:46:35.747385Z"},{"id":"UBUNTU-CVE-2021-38153","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2021-09-22T09:15:00Z","modified":"2025-09-08T16:47:16Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:54:28.526929Z"},{"id":"BIT-kafka-2021-38153","title":"Timing Attack Vulnerability for Apache Kafka Connect and Clients","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2024-03-06T10:54:31.089Z","modified":"2026-09-08T08:48:23.727664774Z","updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:28:31.782692Z"}]}}