CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-20288 — An authentication flaw was found in ceph in versions before 14.2.20

High CVSS 7.2

An authentication flaw was found in ceph in versions before 14.2.20. When the monitor handles CEPHX_GET_AUTH_SESSION_KEY requests, it doesn't sanitize other_keys, allowing key reuse. An attacker who can request a global_id can exploit the ability of any user to request a global_id previously associated with another user, as ceph does not force the reuse of old keys to generate new ones. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.2 (3.1)
Published
2021-04-15
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-287

Affected products

  • linuxfoundation / ceph
  • redhat / ceph_storage / 4.0
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 32
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 33
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 34
  • debian / debian_linux / 10.0

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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