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ZeppelinApplication · Apache

CVE-2021-28656

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 0.9.0 or later.
See remediation →
61/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 · unedited
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Credential page of Apache Zeppelin allows an attacker to submit malicious request. This issue affects Apache Zeppelin Apache Zeppelin version 0.9.0 and prior versions.

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 confidence

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Credential page of Apache Zeppelin allows an attacker to trick an authenticated user into submitting unintended requests to modify credentials. The Credential page lacks anti-CSRF tokens or proper request validation, enabling malicious state-changing actions to be performed via forged requests from the user's browser.

MitigationImplement anti-CSRF tokens (synchronizer token pattern) on all Credential page forms and validate these tokens server-side on credential-related endpoints; alternatively, configure SameSite cookies for session management.

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
ZeppelinApplication
Affected:<= 0.9.0

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Apache Zeppelin version
    Access the Zeppelin web UI and navigate to the About/Help page, or check the installed package/version via system commands (e.g., Zeppelin version file or package manager). Compare the installed version against the affected range: <= 0.9.0
    Affected if The installed version is 0.9.0 or any version lower than 0.9.0
  2. Verify Credential page is accessible
    Log into the Zeppelin web interface and navigate to the Credentials page (typically found under the Interpreters or Settings section). Confirm the page loads and displays credential management forms.
    Affected if The Credential page is accessible and loads without errors
  3. Inspect Credential page forms for anti-CSRF tokens
    Use browser developer tools (Network tab or Elements inspection) to examine the HTML source of forms on the Credential page. Look for hidden input fields containing tokens (such as 'csrfToken', 'csrf', or similar) or any token-related attributes within the form tags.
    Affected if No anti-CSRF token fields are present in the Credential page forms, or the forms lack any CSRF protection mechanism
  4. Check session cookie SameSite attribute
    While logged into Zeppelin, open browser developer tools and inspect the session cookie (usually named 'JSESSIONID' or similar) in the Application/Storage tab. Check if the SameSite attribute is set to 'Strict' or 'Lax', or if it is missing/empty.
    Affected if The session cookie has no SameSite attribute set (value is empty or missing), meaning the cookie is sent on all cross-site requests

You are affected if your Zeppelin version is 0.9.0 or lower AND the Credential page lacks anti-CSRF tokens in its forms AND session cookies lack SameSite protection.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 0.9.0
Interim mitigation

Implement anti-CSRF tokens (synchronizer token pattern) on all Credential page forms and validate these tokens server-side on credential-related endpoints; alternatively, configure SameSite cookies for session management.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Zeppelin 0.10.0 or later

  1. 1. Back up your current Zeppelin configuration and any custom notebooks or settings.
  2. 2. Stop the Zeppelin service.
  3. 3. Download Apache Zeppelin version 0.10.0 or later from the official Apache repository (https://zeppelin.apache.org/download.html).
  4. 4. Install the new version following the standard installation process.
  5. 5. Restore your backed-up configuration and notebooks to the new installation.
  6. 6. Start the Zeppelin service and verify functionality.
  7. 7. Test that the Credential page works properly with the new version.
Caveat Review release notes for any configuration changes between 0.9.0 and 0.10.0; some settings may require adjustment.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Zeppelin Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-28656 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data