CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-21396 — wire-server is an open-source back end for Wire, a secure collaboration platform

Medium CVSS 6.5

wire-server is an open-source back end for Wire, a secure collaboration platform. In wire-server from version 2021-02-16 and before version 2021-03-02, the client metadata of all users was exposed in the `GET /users/list-clients` endpoint. The endpoint could be used by any logged in user who could request client details of any other user (no connection required) as far as they can find their User ID. The exposed metadata included id, class, type, location, time, and cookie. A user on a Wire backend could use this endpoint to find registration time and location for each device for a given list of users. As a workaround, remove `/list-clients` from nginx config. This has been fixed in version 2021-03-02.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.5 (3.1)
Published
2021-03-26
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-200

Affected products

  • wire / wire_server

Matched remediation archetype

Information disclosure and sensitive data exposure

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

Check exposure

  • Trace sensitive data through responses, errors, logs, metrics, traces, caches, exports, files, backups, and client bundles.
  • Identify affected subjects, tenants, retention windows, access controls, and downstream copies without opening unnecessary sensitive records.
  • Review metadata, timing, status, length, and existence signals as well as direct content disclosure.

Remediate safely

  • Minimize collection and output, apply field-level authorization and redaction at a centralized boundary, and return generic external errors.
  • Remove secrets and sensitive data from logs, artifacts, URLs, caches, and client-side bundles; rotate credentials that may have been exposed.
  • Update the affected component and add synthetic-data tests for response, error, observability, and export paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.