Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw let a non-server Consul agent with a valid certificate from the same CA reach server-only Raft RPC functionality. In business terms, a trusted but lower-privileged Consul node could potentially gain higher control inside the service-discovery cluster. HashiCorp says it was fixed in Consul 1.8.15, 1.9.9, and 1.10.2.
Executive priority
Treat this as a priority upgrade for Consul-backed infrastructure. It is not documented here as actively exploited, but it affects trust boundaries inside a critical control-plane component and can enable privilege escalation from a valid agent position.
Technical view
CVE-2021-37219 affects HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise Raft RPC authorization. The issue concerns non-server agents authenticated with a certificate signed by the same CA being allowed to access server-only functionality, resulting in privilege escalation. The provided sources do not include CVSS, CWE, detailed impact boundaries, or exploit mechanics.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in Consul or Consul Enterprise clusters running versions before the fixed releases, especially 1.10.1 as named in the CVE description. The scenario requires a non-server agent with a valid same-CA certificate, so the risk is strongest inside environments where agent certificates are broadly trusted.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The prerequisite of a valid same-CA certificate suggests abuse would likely come from an already trusted or compromised Consul agent rather than unauthenticated internet access.
Researcher notes
The provided evidence is sparse: no CVSS, CWE, precise version ranges, exploit status, or detailed advisory text beyond the CVE summary and fixed versions. Validate exact affected ranges and operational mitigations against HashiCorp HCSEC-2021-22 before making fleet-wide conclusions.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Consul or Consul Enterprise to 1.8.15, 1.9.9, 1.10.2, or later supported releases.
- Review HashiCorp advisory guidance before applying compensating controls.
- Audit Consul agent certificates and remove unneeded or stale trust relationships.
- Limit which systems can run Consul agents with certificates signed by the cluster CA.
- Monitor Consul server and agent activity for unexpected Raft-related access patterns.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all Consul and Consul Enterprise versions across production and non-production clusters.
- Confirm every cluster is on a fixed or later release line.
- Check whether non-server agents share the same CA trust as Consul servers.
- Review certificate issuance records for unexpected or excessive agent certificates.
- Document residual exposure where upgrades are delayed.
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.
Privilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-37219 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://www.hashicorp.com/blog/category/consulCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2021-22-consul-raft-rpc-privilege-escalation/29024CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- GLSA-202207-01CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_GENTOO
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.