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Version: 4.x

Security Model

The Apache RocketMQ project itself provides security features such as ACL and TLS, but the final security effectiveness still depends on the operator’s comprehensive protection of network, hosts, accounts, and data.

1. Authentication and Authorization (ACL)​

  • ACL 1.0 has been supported since RocketMQ 4.4.0
  • The more secure ACL 2.0 was introduced in 5.3.0
  • ACL 1.0 was removed in 5.3.3
  • It is recommended that all users who use Apache RocketMQ ACL migrate to ACL 2.0

2. Dashboard & Observability Exposure​

RocketMQ Dashboard and some observability components (such as RocketMQ Prometheus Exporter) do not enable strong authentication by default; anyone who can access the HTTP port can read cluster metadata. Strongly recommended:

  • Bind the Dashboard listening address to the intranet or a trusted VPC
  • Configure ACL / IP allow-lists on the gateway / Ingress / reverse proxy
  • If public-network operation and maintenance is required, be sure to add a VPN, HTTP Basic/OAuth authentication, or a WAF

Otherwise, information-leakage risks may occur; such risks are the responsibility of the deployment side rather than RocketMQ vulnerabilities.

3. Transport Encryption and Data Encryption​

  • Clients and servers can communicate through TLS encryption; enable it if sensitive data is involved
  • The message body is defined by the business; RocketMQ will not parse or persist decrypted content
  • If messages contain sensitive information, perform field-level or overall encryption on the business side to avoid storing plaintext

4. Serialization and Deserialization Risks​

  • RocketMQ only transmits byte arrays and does not perform object deserialization
  • If consumers need to deserialize, they should choose secure formats (such as JSON-Binding, Protobuf etc.) and validate untrusted data

5. SDK and Version Management​

  • Always use the latest official stable client to obtain the latest vulnerability fixes and improvements

6. Log Management​

  • Properly keep RocketMQ-related logs (including Broker, NameServer, Proxy, Client, etc.) to avoid leakage of sensitive information