GHSA-7mg2-6c6v-342r is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.4) 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: Improper Authorization For Namespace and Topic Management Endpoints
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-7mg2-6c6v-342r.
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-7mg2-6c6v-342r 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 378,567 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-broker☕org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker☕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
This vulnerability allows authenticated users with produce or consume permissions to perform unauthorized operations on partitioned topics, such as unloading topics and triggering compaction. These management operations should be restricted to users with the tenant admin role or superuser role. An authenticated user with produce permission can create subscriptions and update subscription properties on partitioned topics, even though this should be limited to users with consume permissions. This impact analysis assumes that Pulsar has been configured with the default authorization provider. For custom authorization providers, the impact could be slightly different. Additionally, the vulnerability allows an authenticated user to read, create, modify, and delete namespace properties in any namespace in any tenant. In Pulsar, namespace properties are reserved for user provided metadata about the namespace.
This issue affects Apache Pulsar versions from 2.7.1 to 2.10.6, from 2.11.0 to 2.11.4, from 3.0.0 to 3.0.3, from 3.1.0 to 3.1.3, and from 3.2.0 to 3.2.1.
3.0 Apache Pulsar users should upgrade to at least 3.0.4. 3.1 and 3.2 Apache Pulsar users should upgrade to at least 3.2.2.
Users operating versions prior to those listed above should upgrade to the aforementioned patched versions or newer versions.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker | ≥ 2.7.1 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker | ≥ 2.11.0 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.0.4 | 3.0.4org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker:3.0.4 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker | ≥ 3.1.0 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker | ≥ 3.2.0&&< 3.2.2 | 3.2.2org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker:3.2.2 |
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
No patched version of org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-broker has shipped for GHSA-7mg2-6c6v-342r yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
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-7mg2-6c6v-342r can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-7mg2-6c6v-342r. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-7mg2-6c6v-342r in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-7mg2-6c6v-342r across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.