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OpenAdvisories
Critical · 9.1 CVE-2023-44981 BIT-zookeeper-2023-44981EUVD-2023-2679GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh

Apache ZooKeeper: Authorization bypass in SASL Quorum Peer Authentication

Published Oct 11, 2023 · Updated Apr 23, 2025 · Assigned by apache

Vendor: Apache Software Foundation Product: Apache ZooKeeper Package: org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper Package: trino Package: zookeeper Package: zookeeper Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Maven Ecosystem: Ubuntu Ecosystem: Wolfi

Description

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.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Apache Software Foundation Apache ZooKeeper 3.9.0 – < 3.9.1, 3.8.0 – ≤ 3.8.2, 3.7.0 – ≤ 3.7.1, < 3.7.0 3.9.1

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

Debian

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 zookeeper 3.9.1-1 —
Debian 13 zookeeper 3.9.1-1 —
Debian 12 zookeeper 3.8.0-11+deb12u1 DSA-5544-1
Debian 11 zookeeper 3.4.13-6+deb11u1 DSA-5544-1
Debian 10 zookeeper 3.4.13-2+deb10u1 DLA-3624-1

Ubuntu

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS zookeeper 3.4.13-6ubuntu4.1 USN-6559-1
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS zookeeper 3.4.13-5ubuntu0.1 USN-6559-1
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS zookeeper 3.4.13-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 USN-6559-1
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS zookeeper 3.4.8-1ubuntu0.1~esm2 USN-6559-1
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS zookeeper 3.4.5+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1~esm3 USN-6559-1

Wolfi

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Wolfi rolling trino 478-r2 —

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Maven org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper < 3.7.2 3.7.2 GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh
Maven org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper >= 3.8.0, < 3.8.3 3.8.3 GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh
Maven org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper >= 3.9.0, < 3.9.1 3.9.1 GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh

Advisories 10

References