dbcve.org
Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2021-3698

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 260 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 Cockpit in versions prior to 260 in the way it handles the certificate verification performed by the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD). This flaw allows client certificates to authenticate successfully, regardless of the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) configuration or the certificate status. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to 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 · moderate confidence

Cockpit versions prior to 260 contain a flaw where certificate verification performed by SSSD is not properly enforced - client certificates can successfully authenticate regardless of whether they appear on a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) or have an invalid/expired status. This allows potentially compromised or revoked certificates to maintain access.

MitigationUpgrade Cockpit to version 260 or later to ensure proper CRL checking and certificate status validation is enforced during SSSD authentication.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
CockpitApplication
Affected:< 260

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Confirm Cockpit is installed
    Run 'rpm -q cockpit' or check if Cockpit service is running with 'systemctl status cockpit'
    Affected if Cockpit is not installed or not in use, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Determine Cockpit version
    Run 'rpm -q --qf '%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}' cockpit' to get the exact installed version number
    Affected if The version number is less than 260 (for example, 259, 258, etc.)
  3. Verify SSSD authentication is configured
    Check /etc/sssd/sssd.conf for 'cert_auth = true' or 'certificate_verification' directives indicating client certificate authentication is enabled
    Affected if SSSD is not configured for certificate-based authentication, the flaw cannot be exploited
  4. Check certificate verification settings
    Inspect /etc/sssd/sssd.conf for 'certificate_verification' parameter and verify if 'require_crl' or 'soft_require_crl' is properly set
    Affected if CRL checking is not enforced or is disabled in SSSD configuration, allowing invalid/revoked certificates to authenticate

You are affected if Cockpit version is below 260 AND SSSD is configured to use client certificate authentication without proper CRL and certificate status validation.

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 260 or later
Fixed in 260
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Cockpit to version 260 or later to ensure proper CRL checking and certificate status validation is enforced during SSSD authentication.

Recommended fix High confidence

Cockpit version 260 or later (for Enterprise Linux 8)

  1. Ensure your system is registered with Red Hat Subscription Management or a Satellite server
  2. Run 'sudo dnf check-update' to check for available updates
  3. Run 'sudo dnf update cockpit' to update Cockpit to the latest available version in your EL8 repository
  4. Verify the installed version with 'rpm -q cockpit' - ensure version 260 or later is installed
  5. If the update is not available in your current repositories, enable the appropriate repository with 'sudo dnf module reset cockpit' and 'sudo dnf module enable cockpit:260' or wait for the errata to reach your repository
Caveat Standard cockpit update - minimal risk, but test in staging first as with any system update

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

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
Get the upgrade done

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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-2021-3698 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