dbcve.org
ConsulApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2021-37219

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.8.15 / 1.9.9 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise 1.10.1 Raft RPC layer allows non-server agents with a valid certificate signed by the same CA to access server-only functionality, enabling privilege escalation. Fixed in 1.8.15, 1.9.9 and 1.10.2.

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 confidence

The vulnerability exists in HashiCorp Consul's Raft RPC layer where authorization checks are improperly enforced. Non-server agents (client agents) possessing a valid certificate signed by the same certificate authority as server nodes can bypass access controls and invoke server-only RPC functionality, resulting in privilege escalation from client to server-level permissions.

MitigationUpgrade Consul to version 1.8.15, 1.9.9, 1.10.2 or later to remediate the Raft RPC authorization bypass. For environments unable to upgrade immediately, review certificate-based access policies and consider network segmentation to limit client agent access to RPC interfaces.

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
ConsulApplication
Affected:< 1.8.15>= 1.9.0, < 1.9.9>= 1.10.0, < 1.10.2

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checks

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

  1. Identify Consul version
    Run `consul --version` or check the version of the Consul package installed in your environment
    Affected if The installed version falls within < 1.8.15, >= 1.9.0 and < 1.9.9, or >= 1.10.0 and < 1.10.2
  2. Determine agent role
    Check the Consul agent configuration for the `server` parameter in the configuration file or run `consul info` and look for the `server` attribute in the agent output
    Affected if The agent is running as a client agent (server = false) rather than a server node
  3. Verify certificate configuration
    Examine the Consul agent configuration for TLS/SSL settings, specifically the `ca_file` or `cert_file` parameters to determine if certificates are signed by the same internal certificate authority used by server nodes
    Affected if Client agents are using certificates signed by the same internal CA as Consul server nodes
  4. Assess RPC interface exposure
    Check network configuration to determine if the Raft RPC port (default 8300) is accessible from client agents or untrusted networks by reviewing firewall rules and Consul agent bind addresses
    Affected if Client agents have network access to the Raft RPC interface on server nodes

Your environment is affected if you are running a Consul client agent with a version in the vulnerable range that uses certificates signed by the same CA as your server nodes and has network access to the Raft RPC interface.

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 1.8.15 / 1.9.9 / 1.10.2 or later
Fixed in 1.8.151.9.91.10.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Consul to version 1.8.15, 1.9.9, 1.10.2 or later to remediate the Raft RPC authorization bypass. For environments unable to upgrade immediately, review certificate-based access policies and consider network segmentation to limit client agent access to RPC interfaces.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Consul 1.10.2 (or 1.9.9 if staying on 1.9.x, or 1.8.15 if staying on 1.8.x)

  1. 1. Identify current Consul version by running 'consul version' or checking the systemd service
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on current version (see upgrade_path)
  3. 3. Review HashiCorp Consul upgrade documentation at https://www.consul.io/docs/upgrading
  4. 4. Take a snapshot of Consul state using 'consul snapshot save' before upgrading
  5. 5. Stop the Consul service on all nodes in the cluster
  6. 6. Upgrade Consul package to the fixed version (1.8.15, 1.9.9, or 1.10.2) using package manager or manual binary replacement
  7. 7. Start Consul service on server agents first, then client agents
  8. 8. Verify cluster health using 'consul members' and 'consul operator raft list-peers'
Caveat Refer to HashiCorp Consul upgrade guides for version-specific breaking changes between your current version and target fixed version

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

Fix this in Consul Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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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-2021-37219 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