CVE-2021-3153
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 · uneditedHashiCorp Terraform Enterprise up to v202102-2 failed to enforce an organization-level setting that required users within an organization to have two-factor authentication enabled. Fixed in v202103-1.
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 confidenceHashiCorp Terraform Enterprise up to v202102-2 contained a logic flaw where the organization-level enforcement setting requiring two-factor authentication was not being properly enforced, allowing users to bypass the 2FA requirement even when administrators had enabled the mandatory 2FA policy.
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<= 202102-2CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Terraform Enterprise versionAccess the Terraform Enterprise admin console or API endpoint to retrieve the installed version number. Typically found in the '/admin/settings' area or via the 'tfe' admin API.Affected if Version is 202102-2 or earlier (any version <= 202102-2)
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Locate organization 2FA enforcement settingNavigate to the organization settings in Terraform Enterprise. Look for security settings or authentication settings where administrators configure mandatory two-factor authentication requirements for the organization.Affected if The organization has enabled the mandatory 2FA policy setting
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Verify 2FA enforcement is actually appliedCheck whether users in the organization are being prompted or required to set up and use 2FA. This can be done by examining user account security settings, reviewing if users can access the system without completing 2FA setup, or using administrative audit logs to confirm 2FA challenges are being enforced.Affected if Users can access the system without 2FA being enforced despite the mandatory 2FA policy being enabled in organization settings
Your environment is affected if you are running Terraform Enterprise version 202102-2 or earlier AND have the organization-level mandatory 2FA policy enabled, but users can still access the system without completing 2FA authentication.
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 dataUpgrade Terraform Enterprise to v202103-1 or later to remediate the 2FA enforcement bypass, then verify the organization-level 2FA policy is properly applied to all users.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-3153 — 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-2021-3153 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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