CVE-2021-39206
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 · uneditedPomerium is an open source identity-aware access proxy. Envoy, which Pomerium is based on, contains two authorization related vulnerabilities CVE-2021-32777 and CVE-2021-32779. This may lead to incorrect routing or authorization policy decisions. With specially crafted requests, incorrect authorization or routing decisions may be made by Pomerium. Pomerium v0.14.8 and v0.15.1 contain an upgraded envoy binary with these vulnerabilities patched. This issue can only be triggered when using path prefix based policy. Removing any such policies should provide mitigation.
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 confidencePomerium, an identity-aware access proxy built on Envoy, contains two underlying Envoy vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-32777 and CVE-2021-32779) that can cause incorrect routing or authorization policy decisions when specially crafted requests are sent. This only affects deployments using path prefix based policies, where an attacker could potentially bypass authorization or cause incorrect routing.
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< 1.16.5>= 1.17.0, < 1.17.4>= 1.18.0, < 1.18.4= 1.19.0>= 0.11.0, < 0.14.8= 0.15.0CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/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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Check Pomerium versionRun `pomerium --version` or inspect the running container/image tag to identify the installed Pomerium versionAffected if Version is >= 0.11.0 and < 0.14.8, or equals 0.15.0 (vulnerable versions)
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Verify path prefix policies existReview Pomerium configuration files (config.yaml or equivalent) and examine policy sections. Look for policies containing `prefix` or `path` matching rules in the route definitionsAffected if Any policy uses path prefix matching (such as `prefix: /api` or `path_prefix: /admin`) in authorization or route definitions
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Confirm Envoy version inside PomeriumIf accessing Pomerium logs or binary directly is possible, inspect the embedded Envoy version or check Pomerium release notes which bundle specific Envoy versionsAffected if Embedded Envoy version is < 1.16.5, >= 1.17.0 and < 1.17.4, >= 1.18.0 and < 1.18.4, or equals 1.19.0
You are affected if you are running a vulnerable Pomerium version (0.11.0 through 0.14.8, or 0.15.0) AND have any path prefix based policies configured in your authorization or routing rules.
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 · scoped0.14.81.16.51.17.4
Remove any path prefix based policies from the Pomerium configuration, or upgrade to Pomerium v0.14.8 or v0.15.1 which contain the patched Envoy binary.
Pomerium v0.14.8 or v0.15.1 (both contain fixed Envoy)
- Upgrade Pomerium to version 0.14.8 or 0.15.1, which contain the patched Envoy binary addressing CVE-2021-32777 and CVE-2021-32779
- After upgrading, verify that existing policies function correctly
- Alternatively (if upgrade is not immediately feasible), remove all path prefix based policies from your Pomerium configuration as a mitigation until upgrade can be performed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-39206 — 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-2021-39206 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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