MongoDBDatabase / datastore
CVE-2021-32037
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 · uneditedAn authorized user may trigger an invariant which may result in denial of service or server exit if a relevant aggregation request is sent to a shard. Usually, the requests are sent via mongos and special privileges are required in order to know the address of the shards and to log in to the shards of an auth enabled environment. This issue affects MongoDB Server v5.0 versions prior to and including 5.0.2.
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 confidenceAn authorized user with knowledge of shard topology can send specially crafted aggregation requests directly to shards (bypassing mongos), triggering an assertion failure that causes the shard server to exit or become unavailable. This requires elevated privileges to access shard addresses and authenticate in an auth-enabled environment.
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
MongoDBDatabase / datastore
>= 5.0.0, <= 5.0.2CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 MongoDB server versionRun 'db.version()' in the mongo shell or 'mongod --version' / 'mongos --version' from the command lineAffected if The version is between 5.0.0 and 5.0.2 inclusive (e.g., 5.0.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.2)
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Confirm this is a shard server instanceCheck if the running process is mongod configured as a shard (check for sharding.role in config or ps aux for process name) rather than mongosAffected if The instance is running as a shard server (mongod with sharding.role set to shardsvr)
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Check network exposure of shard listener portsReview net.bind_ip settings in mongod configuration and verify firewall rules; check if shard port (default 27018) is accessible from untrusted networksAffected if Shard listener ports are bind to accessible IP addresses on untrusted networks (0.0.0.0 or public IPs) rather than only localhost/internal network interfaces
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Verify authentication is enabledCheck mongod configuration for auth or keyFile setting; attempt connection without credentialsAffected if Authentication is disabled (no auth or keyFile configured)
A user is affected if they run MongoDB version 5.0.0-5.0.2 as a shard server with its listener ports exposed to networks where an authorized but untrusted user could directly access shard addresses.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade MongoDB Server to v5.0.3 or later. Additionally, restrict access to shard listeners and implement network segmentation to limit exposure of internal cluster topology to authorized users.
MongoDB Server 5.0.3 or later (e.g., 5.0.3, 5.0.4, or current stable 5.0.x)
- Backup all MongoDB data and configuration files before proceeding with any upgrade
- Stop the MongoDB server instance (mongod) and any mongos processes
- For standalone deployments: replace the MongoDB binaries with version 5.0.3 or later
- For replica sets: perform a rolling upgrade following MongoDB's standard rolling upgrade procedure (upgrade secondary members first, then primary)
- Verify the upgrade by connecting to mongod/mongos and running db.adminCommand({buildInfo:1}) to confirm the version
- Test application functionality to ensure the aggregation operations work correctly after the upgrade
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in MongoDB
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-32037 — 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-2021-32037 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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