CVE-2021-20271

A flaw was found in RPM's signature check functionality when reading a package file. This flaw allows an attacker who can convince a victim to install a seemingly verifiable package, whose signature header was modified, to cause RPM database corruption and execute code. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity, confidentiality, and system availability.

Published: 2021-03-26 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-20271 is rated Moderate Risk (40.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2021-20271

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 2025-12-13 0.15% 0.15% +0.01%
2 2025-11-21 0.20% 0.15% -0.05%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.20% —

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-20271

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.0 5.9 [email protected]
5.1 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 4.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-20271

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-20271

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2021-20271: 1 source package rows (rpm); 32 state rows across 8 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, 3.23-community, edge-community); fixed 32, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-20271
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-20271 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (rpm), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-20271
gentoo normal CVE-2021-20271: 1 GLSA(s) (202107-43), 1 atom(s) (app-arch/rpm); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-20271
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-20271
suse low CVE-2021-20271 severity low: SUSE including 410 source package names (0.21.0.3.2.10:rpm-ndb-4.14.3-37.2, 0.7.1-rev1.0.0-build2.2.1:python3-rpm-4.14.3-37.2, …), 704 product×package rows across 201 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/bci-minimal, … (201 product lines)): Fixed 410, Known Affected 231, Will Not Fix 63. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-20271/
ubuntu low CVE-2021-20271 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (rpm), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 8, released 4, ignored 3, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-20271

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-20271

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
rpm rpm >= 4.15.0, < 4.15.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm >= 4.16.0, < 4.16.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm 4.15.0 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.15.0:alpha:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm 4.15.0 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.15.0:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm 4.15.0 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.15.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm 4.16.0 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:alpha:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm 4.16.0 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm 4.16.0 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpm rpm 4.16.0 cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 32 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
starwindsoftware starwind_virtual_san v8 cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build14398:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-20271

cvelogic Threat Intelligence