GHSA-xm78-4m3g-7wm7 — kafka-clients
MEDIUMGHSA-xm78-4m3g-7wm7 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.8) Improper Authentication vulnerability in org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients. A fix is available for org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Authentication in Apache Kafka
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-xm78-4m3g-7wm7 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 377,333 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.kafka:kafka-clients☕org.apache.kafka:kafka-clientsReal-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
In Apache Kafka 0.10.0.0 to 0.10.2.1 and 0.11.0.0 to 0.11.0.1, authenticated Kafka clients may use impersonation via a manually crafted protocol message with SASL/PLAIN or SASL/SCRAM authentication when using the built-in PLAIN or SCRAM server implementations in Apache Kafka.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients | ≥ 0.10.0.0&&< 0.10.2.2 | 0.10.2.2org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients:0.10.2.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients | ≥ 0.11.0.0&&< 0.11.0.2 | 0.11.0.2org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients:0.11.0.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients to 0.10.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xm78-4m3g-7wm7 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-xm78-4m3g-7wm7 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-xm78-4m3g-7wm7. 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-xm78-4m3g-7wm7 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-xm78-4m3g-7wm7 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.