CVE-2021-20265

A flaw was found in the way memory resources were freed in the unix_stream_recvmsg function in the Linux kernel when a signal was pending. This flaw allows an unprivileged local user to crash the system by exhausting available memory. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

Published: 2021-03-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-20265 is rated Low Risk (31.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.34%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-20265

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 2026-06-15 0.04% 0.34% +0.29%
2 2025-11-18 0.07% 0.04% -0.03%
3 2025-10-18 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-20265

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-20265

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-20265

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-20265 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-20265
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-20265
suse medium CVE-2021-20265 severity moderate: SUSE including 338 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 596 product×package rows across 70 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, … (70 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 219, Fixed 146. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-20265/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-20265 medium priority: Ubuntu including 44 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 264 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 148, not-affected 47, released 45, ignored 24. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-20265

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-20265

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel — cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle tekelec_platform_distribution >= 7.4.0, <= 7.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:tekelec_platform_distribution:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-20265

cvelogic Threat Intelligence