CVE-2021-22117
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedRabbitMQ installers on Windows prior to version 3.8.16 do not harden plugin directory permissions, potentially allowing attackers with sufficient local filesystem permissions to add arbitrary plugins.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceRabbitMQ Windows installers prior to version 3.8.16 fail to harden plugin directory permissions, allowing local attackers with sufficient filesystem access to inject malicious plugins that will be loaded by the RabbitMQ service.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 3.8.0, < 3.8.16CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify RabbitMQ installation on WindowsCheck if RabbitMQ is installed by looking for the service or searching for rabbitmq-server in Program Files or the default installation directoryAffected if RabbitMQ is installed on Windows and was installed with a version prior to 3.8.16
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Determine installed RabbitMQ versionRun 'rabbitmqctl status' or check the version from the Windows service description, or examine the rabbitmq_server-VERSION file in the installation directoryAffected if The installed version is 3.8.0 through 3.8.15 inclusive
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Locate the plugin directoryFind the 'plugins' directory within the RabbitMQ installation folder (typically at RABBITMQ_HOME/plugins or in the installation root under a plugins folder)Affected if A plugins directory exists within the RabbitMQ installation
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Check plugin directory permissionsRight-click the plugins folder in Windows Explorer, go to Properties > Security, and examine which users and groups have Write or Modify permissions. Alternatively, use 'icacls <plugins_dir>' from an elevated command promptAffected if Non-administrator users or the Users group have Write or Modify permissions to the plugins directory
A user is affected if RabbitMQ Windows version is between 3.8.0 and 3.8.15 and the plugins directory grants write access to non-privileged local accounts.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data3.8.16
Upgrade RabbitMQ to version 3.8.16 or later, or manually restrict plugin directory permissions to prevent unauthorized plugin addition.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22117 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-22117 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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