CVE-2021-21378

HIGHNVD 8.28.2
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This high-severity CVE scores 8.2 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.4%, top 38% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
8.2
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 2%CVSS: 8.2Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

Envoy is a cloud-native high-performance edge/middle/service proxy. In Envoy version 1.17.0 an attacker can bypass authentication by presenting a JWT token with an issuer that is not in the provider list when Envoy's JWT Authentication filter is configured with the allow_missing requirement under requires_any due to a mistake in implementation. Envoy's JWT Authentication filter can be configured with the allow_missing requirement that will be satisfied if JWT is missing (JwtMissed error) and fail if JWT is presented or invalid. Due to a mistake in implementation, a JwtUnknownIssuer error was mistakenly converted to JwtMissed when requires_any was configured. So if allow_missing was configured under requires_any, an attacker can bypass authentication by presenting a JWT token with an issuer that is not in the provider list. Integrity may be impacted depending on configuration if the JWT token is used to protect against writes or modifications. This regression was introduced on 2020/11/12 in PR 13839 which fixed handling allow_missing under RequiresAny in a JwtRequirement (see issue 13458). The AnyVerifier aggregates the children verifiers' results into a final status where JwtMissing is the default error. However, a JwtUnknownIssuer was mistakenly treated the same as a JwtMissing error and the resulting final aggregation was the default JwtMissing. As a result, allow_missing would allow a JWT token with an unknown issuer status. This is fixed in version 1.17.1 by PR 15194. The fix works by preferring JwtUnknownIssuer over a JwtMissing error, fixing the accidental conversion and bypass with allow_missing. A user could detect whether a bypass occurred if they have Envoy logs enabled with debug verbosity. Users can enable component level debug logs for JWT. The JWT filter logs will indicate that there is a request with a JWT token and a failure that the JWT token is missing.

CVSS v3
8.2
EG Score
8.2(medium)
EPSS
74.6%
KEV
Not listed

Published

March 11, 2021

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Weakness Classification(2)

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

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 45× 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. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-08 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
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  12. 2026-07-02 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
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  14. 2026-07-01 07:18 UTCOSV refresh
  15. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
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  5. 2026-06-22 14:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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  9. 2026-06-19 19:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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  11. 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
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  17. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-13 12:13 UTCOSV refresh
  19. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
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  21. 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
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  24. 2026-06-10 13:20 UTCEPSS rescore
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  42. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
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  46. 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
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  48. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-05-26 19:55 UTCEG score recompute
  51. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-05-24 16:49 UTCEPSS rescore

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2021-21378?
CVE-2021-21378 is a high vulnerability published on March 11, 2021. Envoy is a cloud-native high-performance edge/middle/service proxy. In Envoy version 1.17.0 an attacker can bypass authentication by presenting a JWT token with an issuer that is not in the provider list when Envoy's JWT Authentication filter is configured with the allowmissing requirement under…
When was CVE-2021-21378 disclosed?
CVE-2021-21378 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on March 11, 2021, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2021-21378 actively exploited?
CVE-2021-21378 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 74.6% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-21378?
CVE-2021-21378 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.2 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2021-21378?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-21378, 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.

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