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Ceph StorageApplication · Redhat

CVE-2021-3979

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-08-25
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 key length flaw was found in Red Hat Ceph Storage. An attacker can exploit the fact that the key length is incorrectly passed in an encryption algorithm to create a non random key, which is weaker and can be exploited for loss of confidentiality and integrity on encrypted disks.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
Ceph StorageApplication
Affected:= 3.0= 4.3= 5.1= 4.0= 5.0
Openshift Container StorageApplication
Affected:= 4.0
Openshift Data FoundationApplication
Affected:= 4.0
Openstack PlatformApplication
Affected:= 13.0
Ceph Storage For Ibm Z SystemsOperating system
Affected:= 4.0
Ceph Storage For PowerApplication
Affected:= 4.0
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 35= 37

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
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Ceph >= 16.2.7 (Pacific) or >= 17.2.0 (Quincy) or the latest stable release in your major version branch

  1. 1. Identify the current Ceph Storage version in use (e.g., ceph --version or rook ceph version)
  2. 2. For Red Hat-based systems: Update to a version that includes the fix from commit 47c33179f9a15ae95cc1579a421be89378602656
  3. 3. For Fedora systems: Update to Fedora 36 or later which contains the patched version
  4. 4. For OpenShift Container Storage / OpenShift Data Foundation: Update to OCS/ODF 4.11 or later which includes the fixed Ceph version
  5. 5. After updating, verify the encryption subsystem is using the correct key length by testing disk encryption operations
  6. 6. Review /var/log/ceph/ logs to confirm encryption is functioning correctly with proper key generation
Caveat Upgrade should be low-risk but ensure backup of data exists; test in staging first; some older client interfaces may require adjustment after major version upgrades

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

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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-2021-3979 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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