GHSA-c35h-w8hj-mm55 — pulsar-proxy
HIGHGHSA-c35h-w8hj-mm55 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.2) Missing Authentication vulnerability in org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy. A fix is available for org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apache Pulsar: Improper Authentication for Pulsar Proxy Statistics Endpoint
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.
- 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-c35h-w8hj-mm55.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-c35h-w8hj-mm55 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy☕org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy☕org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy☕org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxyReal-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
Improper Authentication vulnerability in Apache Pulsar Proxy allows an attacker to connect to the /proxy-stats endpoint without authentication. The vulnerable endpoint exposes detailed statistics about live connections, along with the capability to modify the logging level of proxied connections without requiring proper authentication credentials.
This issue affects Apache Pulsar versions from 2.6.0 to 2.10.5, from 2.11.0 to 2.11.2, from 3.0.0 to 3.0.1, and 3.1.0.
The known risks include exposing sensitive information such as connected client IP and unauthorized logging level manipulation which could lead to a denial-of-service condition by significantly increasing the proxy's logging overhead. When deployed via the Apache Pulsar Helm chart within Kubernetes environments, the actual client IP might not be revealed through the load balancer's default behavior, which typically obscures the original source IP addresses when externalTrafficPolicy is being configured to "Cluster" by default. The /proxy-stats endpoint contains topic level statistics, however, in the default configuration, the topic level statistics aren't known to be exposed.
2.10 Pulsar Proxy users should upgrade to at least 2.10.6. 2.11 Pulsar Proxy users should upgrade to at least 2.11.3. 3.0 Pulsar Proxy users should upgrade to at least 3.0.2. 3.1 Pulsar Proxy users should upgrade to at least 3.1.1.
Users operating versions prior to those listed above should upgrade to the aforementioned patched versions or newer versions. Additionally, it's imperative to recognize that the Apache Pulsar Proxy is not intended for direct exposure to the internet. The architectural design of Pulsar Proxy assumes that it will operate within a secured network environment, safeguarded by appropriate perimeter defenses.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy | ≥ 2.6.0&&< 2.10.6 | 2.10.6org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy:2.10.6 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy | ≥ 2.11.0&&< 2.11.3 | 2.11.3org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy:2.11.3 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.0.2 | 3.0.2org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy:3.0.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy | ≥ 3.1.0&&< 3.1.1 | 3.1.1org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy:3.1.1 |
Affected Products
pulsarapacheDetection & 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-proxy, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.pulsar:pulsar-proxy to 2.10.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c35h-w8hj-mm55 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.
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.
Apache Pulsar is not part of EAP - it's not present in the EAP dependency tree and not distributed in the product maven repository. EAP is not affected.
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-c35h-w8hj-mm55 (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-c35h-w8hj-mm55 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.