CVE-2021-38698
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 · uneditedHashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise 1.10.1 Txn.Apply endpoint allowed services to register proxies for other services, enabling access to service traffic. 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 confidenceThe Txn.Apply endpoint in HashiCorp Consul versions 1.10.1 (and earlier 1.8.x and 1.9.x) had a broken access control vulnerability that allowed services to register proxies for other services, enabling unauthorized access to service traffic.
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< 1.8.15>= 1.9.0, < 1.9.9>= 1.10.0, < 1.10.2CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Consul versionRun 'consul --version' or query the /v1/status/leader API endpoint to confirm the installed Consul versionAffected if The version falls within < 1.8.15, >= 1.9.0 and < 1.9.9, or >= 1.10.0 and < 1.10.2
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Verify Txn.Apply endpoint exposureCheck if the Consul API at /v1/txn is accessible from untrusted network segments or service identities that should not have proxy registration privilegesAffected if The Txn.Apply endpoint is reachable without proper service identity validation
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Review service mesh proxy registrationsQuery the service catalog via 'consul catalog services' and inspect any mesh-proxy registrations to identify if services can register proxies for other servicesAffected if Services are registered with proxy configuration for services they should not own or manage
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Audit ACL policy for service:write permissionsRun 'consul acl policy list' and review ACL policies attached to service identities to check if overly broad service:write permissions existAffected if Service identities or tokens have service:write permissions that allow registering proxies on behalf of other services
The environment is affected if running an affected Consul version AND the Txn.Apply endpoint is accessible to services that should not have proxy registration capabilities for other services.
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 · scoped1.8.151.9.91.10.2
Upgrade Consul to version 1.8.15, 1.9.9, or 1.10.2 or later to patch the improper access control in the Txn.Apply endpoint.
Upgrade to Consul 1.8.15, 1.9.9, or 1.10.2 (depending on your current branch); prefer latest stable 1.10.x for longest support
- Identify the currently running Consul version using `consul --version`
- Determine which version branch you are on (1.8.x, 1.9.x, or 1.10.x)
- For Consul 1.8.x versions < 1.8.15: upgrade to Consul 1.8.15 or later
- For Consul 1.9.x versions >= 1.9.0 and < 1.9.9: upgrade to Consul 1.9.9 or later
- For Consul 1.10.x versions >= 1.10.0 and < 1.10.2: upgrade to Consul 1.10.2 or later
- Download the appropriate version from https://www.consul.io/downloads
- Follow the standard Consul upgrade procedure: backup data, stop the agent, replace binary, restart the agent
- Verify the new version is running with `consul --version`
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-38698 — 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-2021-38698 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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- 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
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