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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2023-25194

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2023-02-07
  • Fixed in3.4.0
  • WeaknessCWE-502

Am I affected?

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Description

A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Connect API. This requires access to a Kafka Connect worker, and the ability to create/modify connectors on it with an arbitrary Kafka client SASL JAAS config and a SASL-based security protocol, which has been possible on Kafka Connect clusters since Apache Kafka Connect 2.3.0. When configuring the connector via the Kafka Connect REST API, an authenticated operator can set the `sasl.jaas.config` property for any of the connector's Kafka clients to "com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule", which can be done via the `producer.override.sasl.jaas.config`, `consumer.override.sasl.jaas.config`, or `admin.override.sasl.jaas.config` properties. This will allow the server to connect to the attacker's LDAP server and deserialize the LDAP response, which the attacker can use to execute java deserialization gadget chains on the Kafka connect server. Attacker can cause unrestricted deserialization of untrusted data (or) RCE vulnerability when there are gadgets in the classpath. Since Apache Kafka 3.0.0, users are allowed to specify these properties in connector configurations for Kafka Connect clusters running with out-of-the-box configurations. Before Apache Kafka 3.0.0, users may not specify these properties unless the Kafka Connect cluster has been reconfigured with a connector client override policy that permits them. Since Apache Kafka 3.4.0, we have added a system property ("-Dorg.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules") to disable the problematic login modules usage in SASL JAAS configuration. Also by default "com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule" is disabled in Apache Kafka Connect 3.4.0. We advise the Kafka Connect users to validate connector configurations and only allow trusted JNDI configurations. Also examine connector dependencies for vulnerable versions and either upgrade their connectors, upgrading that specific dependency, or removing the connectors as options for remediation. Finally, in addition to leveraging the "org.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules" system property, Kafka Connect users can also implement their own connector client config override policy, which can be used to control which Kafka client properties can be overridden directly in a connector config and which cannot.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2023-02-0720:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-25194?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-25194?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

OSV · NVD
connect
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.4≥ 2.3.0, < 3.4.03.4.0
Apache kafka connect
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.3≥ 2.3.0, ≤ 3.3.2no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Products declared by the CNA1 product

As apache, the CNA that assigned this CVE, declared them in the CVE record; versions as written.

  • Apache Software Foundation Apache Kafka Connect APIother versions: not affected
    Affected
    • ≥ 2.3.0, < 3.4.0fixed in 3.4.0semver

Source: the CNA record (CVE Program), © The MITRE Corporation,CVE Terms of UseCVE recordupdated 2023-07-21

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • kafkaopenEuler:24.03-LTS-SP4all versions · fixed in 2.8.2-21.oe2403sp4
  • kafkaopenEuler:24.03-LTS-SP3all versions · fixed in 2.8.2-21.oe2403sp3
  • kafkaopenEuler:24.03-LTS-SP1all versions · fixed in 2.8.2-21.oe2403sp1
  • kafkaopenEuler:22.03-LTS-SP4all versions · fixed in 2.8.2-3.oe2203sp4
  • org.apache.kafka:connectTuxCare:Mavenfrom 3.2.3 · fixed in 3.2.3.tuxcare
  • org.apache.kafka:connectTuxCare:Mavenfrom 2.8.2 · fixed in 2.8.2-tuxcare.1and 2 other packages

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2023-25194 Red Hat Product Security2 products fixed · 1 known affected

    kafka: RCE/DoS via SASL JAAS JndiLoginModule configuration in Kafka Connect

    kafka-connect as a component of streams for Apache Kafka

  • RHSA-2023:3223 Red Hat Product Security1 product fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat AMQ Streams 2.4.0 release and security update

  • RHSA-2023:1241 Red Hat Product Security1 product fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat AMQ Streams 2.2.1 release and security update

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update connect to 3.4.0
  2. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2023:3223 · 1 productBefore applying the update, back up your existing installation, including all applications, configuration files, databases and database settings, and so on. The References section of this erratum contains a download link (you must log in to download the update).
  3. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2023:1241 · 1 productFor details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
  4. No fix available, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2023-25194 · 1 productAffected

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
available
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
3 repositories, unverifiedohnonoyesyes/CVE-2023-25194YongYe-Security/CVE-2023-25194vulncheck-oss/cve-2023-25194
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
1 moduleexploit/multi/http/apache_druid_cve_2023_25194rank: excellentModule metadata: Metasploit Framework, © Rapid7, Inc., BSD-3-Clause.
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2023-02-07
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-26f8-x7cc-wqpc

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-25194?

A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Connect API. This requires access to a Kafka Connect worker, and the ability to create/modify connectors on it with an arbitrary Kafka client SASL JAAS config and a SASL-based security protocol, which has been possible on Kafka Connect clusters since Apache Kafka Connect 2.3.0. When configuring the connector via the Kafka Connect REST API, an authenticated operator can set the `sasl.jaas.config` property for any of the connector's Kafka clients to "com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule", which can be done via the `producer.override.sasl.jaas.config`, `consumer.override.sasl.jaas.config`, or `admin.override.sasl.jaas.config` properties. This will allow the server to connect to the attacker's LDAP server and deserialize the LDAP response, which the attacker can use to execute java deserialization gadget chains on the Kafka connect server. Attacker can cause unrestricted deserialization of untrusted data (or) RCE vulnerability when there are gadgets in the classpath. Since Apache Kafka 3.0.0, users are allowed to specify these properties in connector configurations for Kafka Connect clusters running with out-of-the-box configurations. Before Apache Kafka 3.0.0, users may not specify these properties unless the Kafka Connect cluster has been reconfigured with a connector client override policy that permits them. Since Apache Kafka 3.4.0, we have added a system property ("-Dorg.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules") to disable the problematic login modules usage in SASL JAAS configuration. Also by default "com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule" is disabled in Apache Kafka Connect 3.4.0. We advise the Kafka Connect users to validate connector configurations and only allow trusted JNDI configurations. Also examine connector dependencies for vulnerable versions and either upgrade their connectors, upgrading that specific dependency, or removing the connectors as options for remediation. Finally, in addition to leveraging the "org.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules" system property, Kafka Connect users can also implement their own connector client config override policy, which can be used to control which Kafka client properties can be overridden directly in a connector config and which cannot.

Is CVE-2023-25194 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2023-25194, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-25194?

CVE-2023-25194 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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