Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-26118 affects Apache ActiveMQ Artemis OpenWire support. In Artemis 2.15.0, advisory-message handling could bypass policy-based access control for the whole session. Business impact depends on whether Artemis with OpenWire is deployed and reachable by clients that should have restricted permissions.
Executive priority
Prioritize confirmation over emergency response. The issue is an access-control bypass in messaging infrastructure, but the bundle lacks severity, exploit, and fix details. Environments with exposed or shared Artemis brokers deserve prompt review and vendor-guided remediation.
Technical view
Apache reported that advisory message production in the OpenWire protocol head of Artemis 2.15.0 was not subject to access control, bypassing policy-based access control for the entire session. The issue maps to CWE-284. The bundle does not provide CVSS, exact vulnerable range, or patch details.
Likely exposure
Most relevant to organizations running Apache ActiveMQ Artemis with OpenWire enabled, especially deployments allowing untrusted or broad network client access. The bundle identifies Artemis 2.15.0 and lists affected versions as unspecified, so confirm exact product versions through vendor guidance or installed package metadata.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. They describe an access-control bypass condition tied to advisory messages in OpenWire. Treat internet-facing or multi-tenant broker deployments as higher review priority, but do not assume exploitation without supporting evidence.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE description, Apache announcement references, and NetApp advisory reference. Key missing items are CVSS, complete affected version range, fixed release, prerequisites, and exploitability details. Avoid broad product claims beyond Apache ActiveMQ Artemis and vendor-noted dependencies.
Mitigation direction
- Identify all Apache ActiveMQ Artemis deployments and versions.
- Confirm whether OpenWire support is enabled or exposed.
- Check Apache advisory guidance for fixed versions or supported mitigations.
- Limit broker access to trusted clients and management networks.
- Review NetApp advisory applicability for any dependent NetApp products.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Artemis instances and record version, protocol listeners, and exposure.
- Review broker configuration for OpenWire acceptors and access-control policies.
- Check logs for unusual advisory-message activity or permission anomalies.
- Verify remediation against Apache or product-vendor release notes.
- Document any unknown version ranges as residual risk.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-284: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-26118 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/activemq-users/202101.mbox/%3CCAH%2BvQmMUNnkiXv2-d3ucdErWOsdnLi6CgnK%2BVfixyJvTgTuYig%40mail.gmail.com%3ECVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- [announce] 20210127 CVE-2021-26118: Flaw in ActiveMQ Artemis OpenWire supportCVE reference · mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210827-0002/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Access Control
Improper Access Control represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.