# CVE-2021-21979: Hardcoded credentials in Bitnami Containers

> Attackers can exploit a hardcoded Laravel APP_KEY in Bitnami containers to craft malicious cookies, potentially leading to remote code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Mar 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fqf3-g95f-m2v9

## What is CVE-2021-21979?

CVE-2021-21979 is a high-severity vulnerability in Bitnami Containers, published on 3 Mar 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Bitnami Containers, all Laravel container versions prior to: 6.20.0-debian-10-r107 for Laravel 6, 7.30.1-debian-10-r108 for Laravel 7 and 8.5.11-debian-10-r0 for Laravel 8, the file /tmp/app/.env is generated at the time that the docker image bitnami/laravel was built, and the value of APP_KEY is fixed under certain conditions. This value is crucial for the security of the application and must be randomly generated per Laravel installation. If your application's encryption key is in the hands of a malicious party, that party could craft cookie values using the encryption key and exploit vulnerabilities inherent to PHP object serialization / unserialization, such as calling arbitrary class methods within your application.

Weakness: CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-21979?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Bitnami Containers.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-21979?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-21979 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-21979 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21979 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-21979 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-21979 is a high-severity vulnerability in Bitnami Containers, published on 3 Mar 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21979 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Bitnami Containers. 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-2021-21979/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21979/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-21979
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21979
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-21979

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21979/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.