GraylogApplication

CVE-2021-37759

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-07-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.1.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 Session ID leak in the DEBUG log file in Graylog before 4.1.2 allows attackers to escalate privileges (to the access level of the leaked session ID).

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

Graylog versions before 4.1.2 write session IDs to DEBUG log files. An attacker with access to these logs can extract the leaked session ID and use it to authenticate as that user, effectively hijacking their session and escalating privileges to the access level of the compromised account.

MitigationUpgrade to Graylog 4.1.2 or later, which removes session IDs from DEBUG log output. Until then, restrict access to log files and monitor for unauthorized access.

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
GraylogApplication
Affected:>= 0.20.0, < 4.1.2

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Determine installed Graylog version
    Run `graylog-server --version` or check the Graylog web interface under System > Nodes, or inspect the RPM/DEB package version if installed via package manager
    Affected if version is 0.20.0 or higher but lower than 4.1.2
  2. Verify DEBUG logging is enabled
    Check Graylog configuration file (graylog.conf) for the setting `log_level = DEBUG` or review logging configuration in the web interface under System > Logging
    Affected if DEBUG log level is active, causing session IDs to be written to log files
  3. Inspect log files for session ID leakage
    Examine Graylog server log files (typically in /var/log/graylog-server/ or the directory specified in log configuration) for occurrences of session identifiers. Search for patterns matching session ID formats (alphanumeric strings of 32+ characters) in DEBUG level entries
    Affected if Log files contain DEBUG entries with visible session IDs that could be extracted by an attacker with log access

You are affected if you are running Graylog version 0.20.0 through 4.1.1 with DEBUG logging enabled and log files contain session identifiers in the output.

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 4.1.2 or later
Fixed in 4.1.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Graylog 4.1.2 or later, which removes session IDs from DEBUG log output. Until then, restrict access to log files and monitor for unauthorized access.

Recommended fix High confidence

4.1.2

  1. Back up your Graylog configuration and database before upgrading
  2. Stop the Graylog service
  3. Upgrade Graylog to version 4.1.2 or later
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking that DEBUG logs no longer contain session IDs
  5. Restart the Graylog service
Caveat Review Graylog 4.1.2 release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and 4.1.2

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

Fix this in Graylog Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

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 locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-37759 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-37759 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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