CVE-2021-38294 Shell Command Injection Vulnerability in Nimbus Thrift Server

What is CVE-2021-38294?

CVE-2021-38294 is a critical command injection vulnerability in Apache Storm, published on 25 Oct 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A Command Injection vulnerability exists in the getTopologyHistory service of the Apache Storm 2.x prior to 2.2.1 and Apache Storm 1.x prior to 1.2.4. A specially crafted thrift request to the Nimbus server allows Remote Code Execution (RCE) prior to authentication.

Weakness: CWE-78, CWE-74

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-38294?

6 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.storm:storm. It affects 1 product.

Products include Apache Storm.

How do I fix CVE-2021-38294?

Upgrade org.apache.storm:storm to a fixed version for your release line: 1.2.4, 2.1.1 or 2.2.1.

Upgrade, and pass arguments to programs as a list instead of through a shell. More about Command injection.

Is CVE-2021-38294 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2021-38294 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Storm

• CVE-2021-40865 Unsafe Pre-Authentication Deserialization In Workers Critical 9.8
• CVE-2018-11779 Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Apache Storm Critical 9.8
• CVE-2015-3188 Apache Storm remote code execution vulnerability Critical 9.8
• CVE-2026-35337 Apache Storm Client: RCE through Unsafe Deserialization via Kerberos TGT Credential Handling High 8.8
• CVE-2018-1331 Code execution in org.apache.storm:storm-core High 8.8

Sources

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

Also known as GHSA-6768-mcjc-8223.