CVE-2025-27817 Scanner

Apache Kafka is a popular distributed event streaming platform used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications. It is utilized in various industries, including finance, retail, health, and more, to unify data across distributed applications and systems. With its robust architecture and scalability, Apache Kafka is essential for enterprises that handle large-scale real-time data streaming. Organizations use Apache Kafka to process and an analyze high-throughput data in real-time, which aids in improving operational efficiency and decision-making. This platform supports both publish-subscribe and message queue models, making it versatile for different data streaming requirements. Due to its widespread adoption, maintaining the security of Apache Kafka deployments is critical for preventing unauthorized data access or manipulations.

The Arbitrary File Read vulnerability in Apache Kafka allows attackers to exploit untrusted configuration of specific endpoints, enabling them to access arbitrary files. This vulnerability arises when configurations for 'sasl.oauthbearer.token.endpoint.url' and 'sasl.oauthbearer.jwks.endpoint.url' are manipulated by untrusted parties. Consequently, attackers can read sensitive files from the server or initiate unintended network requests. The vulnerability is significant as it could lead to exposure of sensitive information stored on the server. It needs an untrusted party to specify malformed client configurations to carry out the exploit successfully. Ensuring the configurations are not exposed to untrusted entities is crucial in mitigating this risk.

The vulnerability occurs due to improper handling and validation of configuration endpoints that allow file reading or unintended network interactions. The problematic configurations lie within the client's SASL OAUTHBEARER mechanism, specifically affecting the sasl.oauthbearer token and jwks endpoint URLs. Transmissions made to these endpoints can be controlled by an attacker if improperly configured, potentially specifying endpoints pointing to files like '/etc/passwd'. When exploited, this can lead to an attacker reading system files or causing SSRF attacks. An in-depth review of endpoint configurations and overall access permissions is necessary to mitigate this vulnerability.

Exploiting this vulnerability may result in unauthorized disclosure of sensitive system information. Attackers could potentially read critical system files, leading to a compromise of confidentiality and privacy. Additionally, the ability to make arbitrary network requests through these configurations could result in server-side request forgery (SSRF), manipulating the server into performing unauthorized actions. These actions could disrupt operations or propagate further vulnerabilities within the system. Implementing strict endpoint security measures and ensuring configurations are always validated can help alleviate these issues.

REFERENCES

• https://github.com/kk12-30/CVE-2025-27817
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-27817