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Wildfly ElytronApplication · Redhat

CVE-2021-3642

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.10.14 / 1.15.5 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
A flaw was found in Wildfly Elytron in versions prior to 1.10.14.Final, prior to 1.15.5.Final and prior to 1.16.1.Final where ScramServer may be susceptible to Timing Attack if enabled. The highest threat of this vulnerability is confidentiality.

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

Wildfly Elytron's ScramServer implementation contains a timing attack vulnerability in versions prior to 1.10.14.Final, 1.15.5.Final, and 1.16.1.Final. The vulnerability allows attackers to potentially infer sensitive authentication information by measuring response times during SCRAM authentication, as the server's response time may vary based on credential characteristics rather than using constant-time comparison operations.

MitigationUpgrade Wildfly Elytron to version 1.10.14.Final, 1.15.5.Final, or 1.16.1.Final or later to obtain the timing-attack fix. If upgrading is not immediately possible, evaluate the risk of unauthenticated network access to SCRAM authentication endpoints.

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
Wildfly ElytronApplication
Affected:< 1.10.14>= 1.11.0, < 1.15.5>= 1.16.0, < 1.16.1
Build Of QuarkusApplication
Affected:all versions
Codeready StudioApplication
Affected:= 12.0
Data GridApplication
Affected:= 8.0
Descision ManagerApplication
Affected:= 7.0
Integration Camel KApplication
Affected:all versions
Integration Camel QuarkusApplication
Affected:all versions
Jboss Enterprise Application PlatformApplication
Affected:= 7.0.0

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
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Locate Wildfly Elytron libraries
    Search for jboss-modules.jar, wildfly-elytron*.jar, or org.wildfly.security.elytron* packages in your application server's lib or modules directory. Check WEB-INF/lib for bundled applications.
    Affected if Elytron libraries are present and their version falls below 1.10.14, between 1.11.0-1.15.4, or between 1.16.0-1.16.0
  2. Determine Elytron version from JAR manifest
    Open the wildfly-elytron-core.jar META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file and read the Implementation-Version attribute, or check META-INF/maven/org.wildfly.security/wildfly-elytron-core/pom.xml for the version element.
    Affected if The version shown is earlier than 1.10.14, or between 1.11.0 and 1.15.4, or between 1.16.0 and 1.16.0
  3. Identify if SCRAM authentication is configured
    Examine your standalone.xml, standalone-full.xml, or domain.xml configuration files for <authentication> or <security> elements containing 'SCRAM' or 'SCRAM-SHA-1' or 'SCRAM-SHA-256' in mechanism names. Also check for any custom security realm configuration using SCRAM.
    Affected if SCRAM-based authentication mechanisms are explicitly configured or enabled in the security domain configuration
  4. Check JBoss EAP or Wildfly server version
    Run 'grep -r "Product-Version"' on jboss-modules.jar or check the version.sh script output. For JBoss EAP 7.0.0, check the jboss-eap-*.jar or version metadata in the installation root.
    Affected if Running JBoss EAP 7.0.0, Wildfly, or any Red Hat product listed in the affected versions that bundles the vulnerable Elytron version and uses SCRAM authentication

You are affected if your environment uses Wildfly Elytron with a version below 1.10.14.Final, between 1.11.0-1.15.4.Final, or between 1.16.0-1.16.0.Final AND SCRAM authentication is enabled in your security configuration.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.10.14 / 1.15.5 / 1.16.1 or later
Fixed in 1.10.141.15.51.16.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Wildfly Elytron to version 1.10.14.Final, 1.15.5.Final, or 1.16.1.Final or later to obtain the timing-attack fix. If upgrading is not immediately possible, evaluate the risk of unauthenticated network access to SCRAM authentication endpoints.

Fix this in Wildfly Elytron Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
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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-2021-3642 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