CVE-2023-25194

HIGHNVD 8.89.0▲
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.0 because EPSS predicts 96% probability of exploitation within the next 30 days (top 0.1% of all CVEs). NVD baseline CVSS 8.8 retained for reference. Confidence: see factors.

Triggered by: EPSS exploit prediction ≥85%
Sources: epss, nvd
Weaponized
8.8
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 96%
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 96%CVSS: 8.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Connect API. This requires access to a Kafka Connect worker, and the ability to create/modify connectors on it with an arbitrary Kafka client SASL JAAS config and a SASL-based security protocol, which has been possible on Kafka Connect clusters since Apache Kafka Connect 2.3.0. When configuring the connector via the Kafka Connect REST API, an authenticated operator can set the sasl.jaas.config property for any of the connector's Kafka clients to "com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule", which can be done via the producer.override.sasl.jaas.config, consumer.override.sasl.jaas.config, or admin.override.sasl.jaas.config properties. This will allow the server to connect to the attacker's LDAP server and deserialize the LDAP response, which the attacker can use to execute java deserialization gadget chains on the Kafka connect server. Attacker can cause unrestricted deserialization of untrusted data (or) RCE vulnerability when there are gadgets in the classpath.

Since Apache Kafka 3.0.0, users are allowed to specify these properties in connector configurations for Kafka Connect clusters running with out-of-the-box configurations. Before Apache Kafka 3.0.0, users may not specify these properties unless the Kafka Connect cluster has been reconfigured with a connector client override policy that permits them.

Since Apache Kafka 3.4.0, we have added a system property ("-Dorg.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules") to disable the problematic login modules usage in SASL JAAS configuration. Also by default "com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule" is disabled in Apache Kafka Connect 3.4.0.

We advise the Kafka Connect users to validate connector configurations and only allow trusted JNDI configurations. Also examine connector dependencies for vulnerable versions and either upgrade their connectors, upgrading that specific dependency, or removing the connectors as options for remediation. Finally, in addition to leveraging the "org.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules" system property, Kafka Connect users can also implement their own connector client config override policy, which can be used to control which Kafka client properties can be overridden directly in a connector config and which cannot.

CVSS v3
8.8
EG Score
9.0(high)
EG Risk
79(Track*)
EG Risk 79/100SSVC: Track*

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity90% × 45%
Exploitation96% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Watch closely — could escalate to Attend.
EPSS
99.9%
KEV
Not listed

Published

February 7, 2023

Last Modified

March 25, 2025

References (6)

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2023-25194(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
redhatpatch2023-05-18redhat
redhatpatch2023-03-14redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Maven(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
org.apache.kafka:connect2.6.0 ... 3.3.2 (23 versions)3.4.0—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Additional Vendor Advisories

(1)

Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 12× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-23 02:19 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-07-22 23:07 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-29 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-28 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-28 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-27 03:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-15 17:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-05-29 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-05-29 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-05-25 07:15 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-05-25 07:15 UTCVendor advisory

Publicly available exploits

(5 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (3 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCvulncheck-oss/cve-2023-25194
    First seen Apr 17, 2024

    A go-exploit for Apache Druid CVE-2023-25194

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCYongYe-Security/CVE-2023-25194
    First seen Dec 28, 2023

    CVE-2023-25194 Scan

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCohnonoyesyes/CVE-2023-25194
    First seen Feb 9, 2023
    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/multi/http/apache_druid_cve_2023_25194✓ verified
    First seen Feb 7, 2023

    Apache Druid JNDI Injection RCE

    Open source ↗
  • Nucleihttp/cves/2023/CVE-2023-25194.yaml
    First seen Jan 1, 2023

    Apache Druid Kafka Connect - Remote Code Execution

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2023-25194?
CVE-2023-25194 is a high vulnerability published on February 7, 2023. A possible security vulnerability has been identified in Apache Kafka Connect API. This requires access to a Kafka Connect worker, and the ability to create/modify connectors on it with an arbitrary Kafka client SASL JAAS config and a SASL-based security protocol, which has been possible on Kafka…
When was CVE-2023-25194 disclosed?
CVE-2023-25194 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on February 7, 2023, with the most recent update on March 25, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2023-25194 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-25194 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 99.9% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-25194?
CVE-2023-25194 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0.
How do I remediate CVE-2023-25194?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2023-25194, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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