# CVE-2021-20335: SSL may be unexpectedly disabled during upgrade of multiple-server MongoDB Ops Manager

> An upgrade bug in MongoDB Ops Manager can temporarily disable SSL, exposing data if specific client certificate settings are enabled.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Feb 2021
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4hh4-3rxm-gq3h

## What is CVE-2021-20335?

CVE-2021-20335 is a medium-severity vulnerability in MongoDB Ops Manager, published on 11 Feb 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

For MongoDB Ops Manager versions prior to and including 4.2.24 with multiple OM application servers, that have SSL turned on for their MongoDB processes, the upgrade to MongoDB Ops Manager versions prior to and including 4.4.12 triggers a bug where Automation thinks SSL is being turned off, and can disable SSL temporarily for members of the cluster. This issue is temporary and eventually corrects itself after MongoDB Ops Manager instances have finished upgrading to MongoDB Ops Manager 4.4. In addition, customers must be running with clientCertificateMode=OPTIONAL / allowConnectionsWithoutCertificates=true to be impacted*.* Customers upgrading from Ops Manager 4.2.X to 4.2.24 and finally to Ops Manager 4.4.13+ are unaffected by this issue.

Weakness: CWE-319 (Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-20335?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mongodb Ops Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-20335?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-20335 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-20335 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20335 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in MongoDB Ops Manager

- [CVE-2026-8431](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-8431/): Ops Manager RCE via webhook body (critical 9.4)
- [CVE-2020-7927](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7927/): Potential privilege escalation in Ops Manager API (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2026-87110](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-87110/): Ops Manager Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in Monitoring Endpoints (medium 6.9)
- [CVE-2026-87109](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-87109/): Ops Manager Sensitive MFA Enrollment Information Exposure in User Listings (medium 6.0)
- [CVE-2019-2388](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-2388/): Potential exposure of log information in Ops Manager (medium 5.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-20335 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-20335 is a medium-severity vulnerability in MongoDB Ops Manager, published on 11 Feb 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20335 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: MongoDB Ops Manager. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20335/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20335/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-20335
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-20335
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-20335

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20335/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.