GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh — zookeeper
CRITICALGHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.1) CWE-639 vulnerability in org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper. A fix is available for org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in Apache ZooKeeper
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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 GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh.
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
GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh 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.zookeeper:zookeeper☕org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper☕org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeperReal-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
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 '[email protected]', 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 Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper | all versions | 3.7.2org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper:3.7.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper | ≥ 3.8.0&&< 3.8.3 | 3.8.3org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper:3.8.3 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper | ≥ 3.9.0&&< 3.9.1 | 3.9.1org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper:3.9.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.zookeeper:zookeeper to 3.7.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh 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 GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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 Hat AMQ 7 Broker and Red Hat AMQ Streams 2 use Zookeeper but do not use or enable the vulnerable functionality, Peer Authentication. They are affected at Moderate Impact by this flaw. Red Hat Fuse 7 uses Zookeeper but does not use any of its server capabilities and as such is not vulnerable, and so is affected at…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| AMQ Broker 7.10.6 | see advisory | RHSA-2024:0903 |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | see advisory | RHSA-2024:2945 |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7.11.6 | zookeeper | RHSA-2024:0705 |
| Red Hat AMQ Streams 2.6.0 | zookeeper | RHSA-2023:7678 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-7286-pgfv-vxvh across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.