CVE-2021-41266 | Authentication bypass issue in the Operator Console

Exp

Minio console is a graphical user interface for the for MinIO operator. Minio itself is a multi-cloud object storage project. Affected versions are subject to an authentication bypass issue in the Operator Console when an external IDP is enabled. All users on release v0.12.2 and before are affected and are advised to update to 0.12.3 or newer. Users unable to upgrade should add automountServiceAccountToken: false to the operator-console deployment in Kubernetes so no service account token will get mounted inside the pod, then disable the external identity provider authentication by unset the CONSOLE_IDP_URL, CONSOLE_IDP_CLIENT_ID, CONSOLE_IDP_SECRET and CONSOLE_IDP_CALLBACK environment variable and instead use the Kubernetes service account token.

Published: 2021-11-15 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-41266 is rated High Exploit Risk (89.2/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 86.24%, 99th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +6.25% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-41266

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-41266

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-02-18 80.00% 86.24% +6.25%
2 2025-11-21 73.91% 80.00% +6.08%
3 2025-11-18 — 73.91% —

Full EPSS history (36 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-41266

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 4.7 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-41266

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-41266

GHSA-4999-659w-mq36 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Authentication bypass issue in the Operator Console

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-41266

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
min minio_console < 0.12.3 cpe:2.3:a:min:minio_console:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-41266

URL Tags
https://github.com/minio/console/pull/1217 Exploit Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/minio/console/security/advisories/GHSA-4999-659w-mq36 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence