CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-20328 — Mongodb Java Driver security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 6.8

Specific versions of the Java driver that support client-side field level encryption (CSFLE) fail to perform correct host name verification on the KMS server’s certificate. This vulnerability in combination with a privileged network position active MITM attack could result in interception of traffic between the Java driver and the KMS service rendering Field Level Encryption ineffective. This issue was discovered during internal testing and affects all versions of the Java driver that support CSFLE. The Java async, Scala, and reactive streams drivers are not impacted. This vulnerability does not impact driver traffic payloads with CSFLE-supported key services originating from applications residing inside the AWS, GCP, and Azure network fabrics due to compensating controls in these environments. This issue does not impact driver workloads that don’t use Field Level Encryption.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.8 (3.1)
Published
2021-02-25
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
java/maven
Weaknesses
CWE-295

Affected products

  • mongodb / java_driver
  • quarkus / quarkus
  • quarkus / quarkus / 1.13.3

Showing 3 representative product identities from 7 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Cryptography, certificate, signature, and channel validation

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Check exposure

  • Inventory affected algorithms, key uses, trust stores, certificate validation settings, random sources, and plaintext channels across clients and services.
  • Determine which secrets, identities, signatures, or data protections depend on the affected primitive or validation path.
  • Check debug, compatibility, fallback, and hostname or audience override settings in build and runtime configuration.

Remediate safely

  • Use a maintained platform cryptographic API with approved algorithms, modes, parameters, randomness, and full peer identity validation.
  • Remove insecure fallback and validation bypasses; separate keys by purpose and load them from managed secret storage.
  • Plan rotation or reissuance for affected keys, certificates, tokens, hashes, or ciphertext and document compatibility sequencing.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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