Staging Environment: Content and features may be unstable or change without notice.
Advisory details: github_osv / GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh
Advisory ID github_osv/GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh
Aliases CVE-2023-44981
Summary 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.
Status Published
Exploitability 0.5
Weighted Severity 8.2
Risk 4.1
Affected and Fixed Packages Package Details
Introduced and Fixed Package Commit Patches Package Commit Patches Details
Weaknesses (1)
CWE-639 Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
System Score Found at
cvssv3.1 9.1 https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2023/10/GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh/GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh.json
generic_textual CRITICAL
Reference id Reference type URL
https://github.com/apache/zookeeper
https://lists.apache.org/thread/wf0yrk84dg1942z1o74kd8nycg6pgm5b
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/10/msg00029.html
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240621-0007
https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5544
4 Other http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/11/4
CVE-2023-44981 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-44981
No exploits are available.

No EPSS data available for this advisory.

Patch URL
There are no known patches.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Found at https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2023/10/GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh/GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh.json
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none

Vector: SSVCv2/E:N/A:Y/T:T/P:M/B:A/M:M/D:T/2025-04-23T13:27:01Z/

Decision: Track

Source URL: https://github.com/cisagov/vulnrichment/blob/develop/2023/44xxx/CVE-2023-44981.json

Source Advisory: vulnrichment/CVE-2023-44981

View SSVC decision tree 
[{'Exploitation': 'none'},
 {'Automatable': 'yes'},
 {'Technical Impact': 'total'},
 {'Mission Prevalence': 'minimal'},
 {'Public Well-being Impact': 'material'},
 {'Mission & Well-being': 'medium'}]