NIST deprecates RSA-2048 from 2030. Find every one of them before attackers do.
☕
☕ Maven
Not in CISA KEV
MEDIUM severity

CVE-2021-38153 — kafka_2.11

MEDIUM

CVE-2021-38153 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-203 vulnerability in org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11. A fix is available for org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11 — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Observable Discrepancy in Apache Kafka

Also known asBIT-kafka-2021-38153GHSA-3j6g-hxx5-3q26
Published
Updated
Affected
10 pkgs
Patched
9 / 10
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Nov 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
6.2%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs94th percentile — riskier than 94% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.00%2.59%5.18%7.77%1.2%6.2%May 26Sep 26Nov 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

10 pkgs affected
☕org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11☕org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12☕org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12☕org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12☕org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13☕org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13☕org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13☕org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients+2 more

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

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.

Affected Packages

10 total 9 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
☕Mavenorg.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11≥ 2.0.0No fix
☕Mavenorg.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.6.32.6.3org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12:2.6.3
☕Mavenorg.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12≥ 2.7.0&&< 2.7.22.7.2org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12:2.7.2
☕Mavenorg.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12≥ 2.8.0&&< 2.8.12.8.1org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.12:2.8.1
☕Mavenorg.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13≥ 2.4.0&&< 2.6.32.6.3org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13:2.6.3
☕Mavenorg.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13≥ 2.7.0&&< 2.7.22.7.2org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.13:2.7.2

Affected Products

8 products · 23 configurations
Application
kafkaapache
≥ 2.7.0 && < 2.7.2
1 version
2.8.0
Application
communications brm - elastic charging engineoracle
< 12.0.0.4.6
1 version
12.0.0.5.0
Application
communications cloud native core policyoracle
1 version
1.15.0
Application
financial services analytical applications infrastructureoracle
≥ 8.1.0.0.0 && ≤ 8.1.20
range
Application
financial services behavior detection platformoracle
≥ 8.0.6.0.0 && ≤ 8.0.8.0
3 versions
8.1.1.08.1.1.18.1.2.0
Application
financial services enterprise case managementoracle
6 versions
8.0.7.18.0.7.28.0.8.08.0.8.18.1.1.08.1.1.1

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    A fix is available for CVE-2021-38153; check the affected-versions list above or the advisory for the patched release of org.apache.kafka:kafka_2.11, then make sure no transitive dependency still pins the vulnerable range.

  3. Workarounds

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatModerate
ProductFixed inAdvisory
Red Hat AMQ Streams 1.6.6see advisoryRHSA-2022:0219
Red Hat AMQ Streams 2.0.0kafkaRHSA-2022:0138
Red Hat build of Quarkus 2.2.5kafka-clientsRHSA-2022:0589
Red Hat Data Grid 8.3.1kafka-clientsRHSA-2022:2232
Red Hat Fuse 7.11kafka-clientsRHSA-2022:5532
RHAF Camel-K 1.8kafka-clientsRHSA-2022:6407
RHINT Camel-Q 2.7see advisoryRHSA-2022:5606
RHINT Service Registry 2.0.3 GAkafka-clientsRHSA-2022:0501

Frequently Asked Questions

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.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-38153 in your dependencies?

Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works
CVE-2021-38153: kafka_2.11 — Fixed in 2.6.3