Executive brief
Apache Thrift is a cross-platform RPC framework that enables secure communication between services. The Python bindings fail to properly validate that a server's SSL/TLS certificate matches the hostname being connected to, allowing an attacker with network access to intercept and impersonate legitimate servers. This bypasses encryption security, potentially exposing sensitive data exchanged between applications.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a certificate host validation bypass (CWE-297) in the Apache Thrift Python bindings' SSL/TLS implementation. The vulnerable component fails to verify that the server's presented certificate hostname matches the intended connection target, allowing a network-based attacker to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks. The attack requires network access to intercept traffic but does not require authentication, user interaction, or elevated privileges. An attacker can eavesdrop on encrypted communications and potentially modify data in transit. The vulnerability affects Apache Thrift versions prior to 0.24.0, which includes the fix. Users should upgrade to version 0.24.0 or later.
Affected products
- Apache Thrift < 0.24.0
Timeline
- 2026-07-27: disclosed: Vulnerability disclosed and published to GitHub Advisory Database
- 2026-07-27: patched: Fix released in Apache Thrift version 0.24.0