# CVE-2021-41137: Bypassing policy restrictions on regular users

> Attackers can bypass policy restrictions on regular users in MinIO, allowing unauthorized access to resources.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Oct 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-v64v-g97p-577c

## What is CVE-2021-41137?

CVE-2021-41137 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in minio, published on 13 Oct 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Minio is a Kubernetes native application for cloud storage. All users on release `RELEASE.2021-10-10T16-53-30Z` are affected by a vulnerability that involves bypassing policy restrictions on regular users. Normally, checkKeyValid() should return owner true for rootCreds. In the affected version, policy restriction did not work properly for users who did not have service (svc) or security token service (STS) accounts. This issue is fixed in `RELEASE.2021-10-13T00-23-17Z`. A downgrade back to release `RELEASE.2021-10-08T23-58-24Z` is available as a workaround.

Weakness: CWE-285 (Improper Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-41137?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Minio Minio.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-41137?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-41137 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-41137 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-41137 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in minio

- [CVE-2023-28434](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28434/): MinIO Security Feature Bypass (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-28432](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28432/): MinIO Information Disclosure (high 7.5, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-11012](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11012/): Authentication bypass MinIO Admin API (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2026-33322](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33322/): MinIO: JWT Algorithm Confusion in OIDC Authentication (critical 9.2)
- [CVE-2026-33419](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33419/): MinIO: LDAP login brute-force via user enumeration and missing rate limit (critical 9.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-41137 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-41137 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in minio, published on 13 Oct 2021. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-41137 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: minio. 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-2021-41137/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41137/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-41137
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-41137
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-41137

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41137/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.