CVE-2017-12610 Improper Authentication in Apache Kafka

What is CVE-2017-12610?

CVE-2017-12610 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Apache Kafka, published on 26 Jul 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-287

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12610?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients. It affects 1 product.

Products include Apache Kafka.

How do I fix CVE-2017-12610?

Upgrade org.apache.kafka:kafka-clients to a fixed version for your release line: 0.10.2.2 or 0.11.0.2.

Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.

Is CVE-2017-12610 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12610 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Kafka

• CVE-2026-33557 Apache Kafka: Missing JWT token validation in OAUTHBEARER authentication Critical 9.1
• CVE-2025-27818 Apache Kafka: Possible RCE attack via SASL JAAS LdapLoginModule configuration High 8.8
• CVE-2018-17196 Improper Input Validation in Apache Kafka High 8.8
• CVE-2026-35554 Apache Kafka Clients: Kafka Producer Message Corruption and Misrouting via Buffer Pool Race Condition High 8.7
• CVE-2025-27817 Apache Kafka Client: Arbitrary file read and SSRF vulnerability High 7.5

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-xm78-4m3g-7wm7.