kafka-python prior to 2.3.2 contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in SCRAM authentication handling that allows a malicious or machine-in-the-middle broker to freeze the client event loop by supplying an excessively large iteration count. In scram.py, ScramClient.process_server_first_message() passes the broker-controlled SCRAM iteration count directly to hashlib.pbkdf2_hmac() without validation, blocking producer sends, consumer polls, admin operations, and heartbeats, which can cause consumer group eviction and repeated reconnect failures.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 4.0 Base Score: 8.7 (HIGH)
- CVSS 4.0 Vector: (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X)
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 7.5
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
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