CVE-2021-22160
This allows an attacker to connect to Pulsar instances as any user (incl. admins).
Does this matter?
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 52.9%, higher than 99% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window.
Description
If Apache Pulsar is configured to authenticate clients using tokens based on JSON Web Tokens (JWT), the signature of the token is not validated if the algorithm of the presented token is set to "none". This allows an attacker to connect to Pulsar instances as any user (incl. admins).
- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 52.93% probability · 99th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-347
- Affected
- apache/pulsar
- Source
- security@apache.org
EPSS 52.9% since 3 November 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r347650d15a3e9c5f58b83e918b6ad6dedc2a63d3eb63da8e6a7be87e%40%3Cusers.pulsar.apache.org%3EMailing List, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8e545559781231a83bf0644548c660255859e52feb86bbfcd42590da%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9a12b4da2f26ce9b8f7e7117a879efaa973dab7e54717bbc7923fab1%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3EMailing List, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra49cb62105154e4795b259c79a6b27d63bfa2ab5787ff8529b089550%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra49cb62105154e4795b259c79a6b27d63bfa2ab5787ff8529b089550%40%3Cusers.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbe845aa1573a61769b9c5916c62971f4b10de87c2ea5f38a97f0cf84%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rca54f4b26ba5e6f2e39732b47ec51640e89f57e3b6a38ac3bab314df%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf2e90942996dceebac8296abf39257cfeb5ae918f82f7af3d37a48c5%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r347650d15a3e9c5f58b83e918b6ad6dedc2a63d3eb63da8e6a7be87e%40%3Cusers.pulsar.apache.org%3EMailing List, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8e545559781231a83bf0644548c660255859e52feb86bbfcd42590da%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9a12b4da2f26ce9b8f7e7117a879efaa973dab7e54717bbc7923fab1%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3EMailing List, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra49cb62105154e4795b259c79a6b27d63bfa2ab5787ff8529b089550%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra49cb62105154e4795b259c79a6b27d63bfa2ab5787ff8529b089550%40%3Cusers.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbe845aa1573a61769b9c5916c62971f4b10de87c2ea5f38a97f0cf84%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rca54f4b26ba5e6f2e39732b47ec51640e89f57e3b6a38ac3bab314df%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf2e90942996dceebac8296abf39257cfeb5ae918f82f7af3d37a48c5%40%3Cdev.pulsar.apache.org%3E
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.