How severe is CVE-2023-25194?

CVE-2023-25194 has a CVSS score of 8.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-25194?

Affected package information for CVE-2023-25194 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2023-25194?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2023-25194 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2023-25194 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 6 known exploit references for CVE-2023-25194, including 4 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

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

CVE-2023-25194 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 94.1%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-25194?

CVE-2023-25194 is classified as Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2023-25194?

CVE-2023-25194 affects apache kafka connect. Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2023-25194?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2023-25194, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2023-25194 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-25194 was published on February 7, 2023 and was last updated on March 25, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2023-25194

HIGH

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…

Published

Feb 7, 2023

Updated

Mar 25, 2025

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

6 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

94.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

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.

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

kafka connectapache

≥ 2.3.0 && ≤ 3.3.2

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Co…

github.comGithubFeb 2023

A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Co…

github.comGithubMay 2023

A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Co…

github.comMetasploitJun 2023

A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Co…

1665891.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.netAPIMay 2024

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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