CVE-2023-30428 — pulsar-broker
HIGHCVE-2023-30428 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.2) CWE-863 vulnerability in org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker. A fix is available for org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apache Pulsar Broker: Incorrect Authorization Validation for Rest Producer
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-30428.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-30428 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker☕org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-brokerReal-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
Incorrect Authorization vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache Pulsar Broker's Rest Producer allows authenticated user with a custom HTTP header to produce a message to any topic using the broker's admin role. This issue affects Apache Pulsar Brokers: from 2.9.0 through 2.9.5, from 2.10.0 before 2.10.4, 2.11.0.
The vulnerability is exploitable when an attacker can connect directly to the Pulsar Broker. If an attacker is connecting through the Pulsar Proxy, there is no known way to exploit this authorization vulnerability.
There are two known risks for affected users. First, an attacker could produce garbage messages to any topic in the cluster. Second, an attacker could produce messages to the topic level policies topic for other tenants and influence topic settings that could lead to exfiltration and/or deletion of messages for other tenants.
2.8 Pulsar Broker users and earlier are unaffected. 2.9 Pulsar Broker users should upgrade to one of the patched versions. 2.10 Pulsar Broker users should upgrade to at least 2.10.4. 2.11 Pulsar Broker users should upgrade to at least 2.11.1. 3.0 Pulsar Broker users are unaffected.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker | ≥ 2.9.0&&< 2.10.4 | 2.10.4org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker:2.10.4 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker | ≥ 2.11.0&&< 2.11.1 | 2.11.1org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker:2.11.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker to 2.10.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-30428 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-30428 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-30428. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-30428 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-30428 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.