CVE-2021-39155

HIGH
Published Aug 24, 20214y ago · Modified Jun 17, 20262w ago
7.5 CVSS 3.1
High
Find Similar
Published Aug 24, 2021 4y ago
Last Modified Jun 17, 2026 2w ago

Description

Istio is an open source platform for providing a uniform way to integrate microservices, manage traffic flow across microservices, enforce policies and aggregate telemetry data. According to [RFC 4343](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4343), Istio authorization policy should compare the hostname in the HTTP Host header in a case insensitive way, but currently the comparison is case sensitive. The proxy will route the request hostname in a case-insensitive way which means the authorization policy could be bypassed. As an example, the user may have an authorization policy that rejects request with hostname "httpbin.foo" for some source IPs, but the attacker can bypass this by sending the request with hostname "Httpbin.Foo". Patches are available in Istio 1.11.1, Istio 1.10.4 and Istio 1.9.8. As a work around a Lua filter may be written to normalize Host header before the authorization check. This is similar to the Path normalization presented in the [Security Best Practices](https://istio.io/latest/docs/ops/best-practices/security/#case-normalization) guide.

CVSS Details

Base Score
7.5
Exploitability
3.9
Impact
3.6
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required None
User Interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality High
Integrity None
Availability None

Threat Intelligence

No active exploitation signals — not in CISA KEV and no EPSS score yet.

Exploit & Patch Status
No Known Exploit
No Patch Available

Weaknesses 2

CWE-178
CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization Authorization

Affected Products 3

VendorProductVersionRange
istioistio* <1.9.8
istioistio*≥1.10.0  –  <1.10.4
istioistio*≥1.11.0  –  <1.11.1

References 2

  • datatracker.ietf.org https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4343
    Third Party Advisory
  • github.com https://github.com/istio/istio/security/advisories/GHSA-7774-7vr3-cc8j
    Third Party Advisory

Remediation

No remediation data recorded yet

Check vendor advisories and the NVD entry for patch availability.