CVE-2021-38698 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Consul

CVE-2021-38698 is rated Moderate Risk (51.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.47%). EPSS rose +1.12% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.35%	1.47%	+1.12%
2	2026-06-06	0.56%	0.35%	-0.21%
3	2026-01-27	—	0.56%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.35%

1.47%

+1.12%

2026-06-06

0.56%

0.35%

-0.21%

2026-01-27

—

0.56%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
6.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.8	3.6	[email protected]
4.0	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable. Authentication (AU:S) A single authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:P) Partial confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:N) No integrity impact. Availability impact (A:N) No availability impact.	8.0	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

6.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.8

3.6

[email protected]

4.0

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S): A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P): Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N): No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N): No availability impact.

8.0

2.9

[email protected]

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-38698

GHSA-6hw5-6gcx-phmw · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — HashiCorp Consul and Consul Enterprise 1.10.1 Txn.Apply endpoint allowed services to register proxies for other services, enabling access to service traffic.

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-38698

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	medium	CVE-2021-38698: 1 source package rows (consul); 1 state rows across 1 repos (edge-community); fixed 0, open 1.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-38698
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2021-38698 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (consul), 1 status rows across 1 suites (bullseye): open 1.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-38698
`gentoo`	low	CVE-2021-38698: 1 GLSA(s) (202208-09), 1 atom(s) (app-admin/consul); latest impact low.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-38698
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2021-38698 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (consul), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 6, ignored 4, needs-triage 4, not-affected 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-38698

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-38698

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
hashicorp	consul	< 1.8.15	cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul:::::-:::*
hashicorp	consul	< 1.8.15	cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul:::::enterprise:::*
hashicorp	consul	>= 1.9.0, < 1.9.9	cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul:::::-:::*
hashicorp	consul	>= 1.9.0, < 1.9.9	cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul:::::enterprise:::*
hashicorp	consul	>= 1.10.0, < 1.10.2	cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul:::::-:::*
hashicorp	consul	>= 1.10.0, < 1.10.2	cpe:2.3:a:hashicorp:consul:::::enterprise:::*

References for CVE-2021-38698

URL	Tags
https://discuss.hashicorp.com/t/hcsec-2021-24-consul-missing-authorization-check-on-txn-apply-endpoint/29026	Vendor Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-09	Third Party Advisory
https://www.hashicorp.com/blog/category/consul	Product Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2021-38698

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-38698

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-38698

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-38698

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-38698

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-38698

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-38698

References for CVE-2021-38698