CVE-2021-41125 : What You Need to Know

Scrapy, a high-level web crawling and scraping framework for Python, exposes HTTP authentication credentials to request targets. Upgrading to specific versions or implementing per-request basis credentials is recommended.

Understanding CVE-2021-41125

Scrapy leaves authentication credentials exposed in requests, potentially compromising user data.

What is CVE-2021-41125?

Scrapy's

HttpAuthMiddleware

exposes HTTP authentication credentials to request targets, including those by Scrapy components like

robots.txt

requests.

The Impact of CVE-2021-41125

The vulnerability leads to the exposure of sensitive information to unauthorized actors, with a CVSS base score of 5.7 (Medium severity).

Technical Details of CVE-2021-41125

Scrapy's vulnerability details, affected systems, and exploitation mechanisms are crucial to understand.

Vulnerability Description

Scrapy versions below 1.8.1 and between 2.0.0 to 2.5.1 leak HTTP authentication credentials to request targets.

Affected Systems and Versions

Versions < 1.8.1 and >= 2.0.0, < 2.5.1 of Scrapy

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers exploit this issue by intercepting requests containing HTTP authentication credentials, potentially accessing sensitive data.

Mitigation and Prevention

Steps to mitigate the CVE-2021-41125 vulnerability and prevent unauthorized access.

Immediate Steps to Take

Upgrade Scrapy to version 2.5.1 or use version 1.8.1 as an alternative
Utilize the

http_auth_domain

spider attribute to control allowed domains for HTTP authentication
Implement per-request basis credentials using

w3lib.http.basic_auth_header

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update to the latest Scrapy version
Implement secure authentication practices to prevent credential exposure

Patching and Updates

Apply the necessary security update from Scrapy to address the vulnerability