System Properties

Kafka supports some configuration that can be enabled through Java system properties. System properties are usually set by passing the -D flag to the Java virtual machine in which Kafka components are running. Below are the supported system properties.

• org.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules

This system property is used to disable the problematic login modules usage in SASL JAAS configuration. This property accepts comma-separated list of loginModule names. By default com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule loginModule is disabled.

If users want to enable JndiLoginModule, users need to explicitly reset the system property like below. We advise the users to validate configurations and only allow trusted JNDI configurations. For more details CVE-2023-25194.

    -Dorg.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules=

To disable more loginModules, update the system property with comma-separated loginModule names. Make sure to explicitly add JndiLoginModule module name to the comma-separated list like below.

    -Dorg.apache.kafka.disallowed.login.modules=com.sun.security.auth.module.JndiLoginModule,com.ibm.security.auth.module.LdapLoginModule,com.ibm.security.auth.module.Krb5LoginModule

• org.apache.kafka.automatic.config.providers

This system property controls the automatic loading of ConfigProvider implementations in Apache Kafka. ConfigProviders are used to dynamically supply configuration values from sources such as files, directories, or environment variables. This property accepts a comma-separated list of ConfigProvider names. By default, all built-in ConfigProviders are enabled, including FileConfigProvider , DirectoryConfigProvider , and EnvVarConfigProvider.

If users want to disable all automatic ConfigProviders, they need to explicitly set the system property as shown below. Disabling automatic ConfigProviders is recommended in environments where configuration data comes from untrusted sources or where increased security is required. For more details, see CVE-2024-31141.

    -Dorg.apache.kafka.automatic.config.providers=none

To allow specific ConfigProviders, update the system property with a comma-separated list of ConfigProvider names. For example, to enable only the EnvVarConfigProvider , set the property as follows:

    -Dorg.apache.kafka.automatic.config.providers=env

To use multiple ConfigProviders, include their names in a comma-separated list as shown below:

    -Dorg.apache.kafka.automatic.config.providers=file,env