NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2021-43858: User privilege escalation in MinIO

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 46/100)

Public proof-of-concept code exists (GitHub); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 35.4% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 98.4% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
No fixed version is recorded, but the references include a patch (commit or PR) link.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. See the fix and affected versions sections below.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

MinIO is a Kubernetes native application for cloud storage. Prior to version `RELEASE.2021-12-27T07-23-18Z`, a malicious client can hand-craft an HTTP API call that allows for updating policy for a user and gaining higher privileges. The patch in version `RELEASE.2021-12-27T07-23-18Z` changes the accepted request body type and removes the ability to apply policy changes through this API. There is a workaround for this vulnerability: Changing passwords can be disabled by adding an explicit `Deny` rule to disable the API for users.

HighCVSS 8.8 · v3.1—Proof of concept No fix recorded

BDU:2022-03596

Published: Dec 27, 2021
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 35.4% · 98th percentile
CWE: CWE-269

Report tools

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Action score

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS: 35 / 40 · 8.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 11 / 30 · 35.4%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: —
CNA · GitHub_M: 8.8; NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
Proof of concept exists, no weaponized module
No fixed version yet

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
minio	minio	cpe:2.3:a:minio:minio

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

minio miniobefore 2021-12-27t07-23-18z

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

minio minio
- < RELEASE.2021-12-27T07-23-18Zaffected

Same product

minio: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2023-28432Minio Information Disclosure in Cluster DeploymentKEV
85Now
CVE-2023-28434MinIO is vulnerable to privilege escalation on Linux/MacOSKEV
67This week
CVE-2024-24747MinIO unsafe default: Access keys inherit `admin` of root user, allowing privilege escalation
45Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2021-21390Mar 19, 2021 · MITM modification of request bodies in MinIO
23Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2021-41137Oct 13, 2021 · Bypassing policy restrictions on regular users
35Monitor
Later →CVE-2022-24842Apr 12, 2022 · Improper Privilege Management in MinIO
36Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×2

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
Source	Kind	Date
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub	stars:3	2022-01-03
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub	stars:0	2023-04-12

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

PublishedDec 27, 2021
First PoCJan 3, 2022+6 d
TodayNov 3, 2026+1772 d

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-secondary

Root cause

To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-269 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

yaml

1kind: ClusterRole
2rules:
3  - apiGroups: ["*"]
4    resources: ["*"]
5    verbs: ["*"]

Fixed

yaml

1kind: Role
2metadata:
3  namespace: lodos-system
4rules:
5  - apiGroups: ["apps"]
6    resources: ["deployments"]
7    verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

Abuse Elevation Control MechanismT1548

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

github.com/minio/minio/commit/5a96cbbeaabd0a82b0fe881378e7c21c85091abf

Show all references (4 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records