CVE-2021-22204

Exp

Improper neutralization of user data in the DjVu file format in ExifTool versions 7.44 and up allows arbitrary code execution when parsing the malicious image

Published: 2021-04-23 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-22204 is rated Critical Active Threat (92.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 99.98%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-11-17) affecting Perl / Exiftool. a weakness (CWE-94) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. EPSS rose +7.20% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

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

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2021-22204

Name: ExifTool Remote Code Execution Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-11-17

Action due: 2021-12-01

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-22204

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
50911 exploit_db edb 2022-05-11 Exploit-DB ↗
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Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-22204

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 92.78% 99.98% +7.20%
2 2026-06-07 92.93% 92.78% -0.15%
3 2026-06-06 — 92.93% —

Full EPSS history (68 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-22204

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 2.5 3.7 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-22204

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-22204

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2021-22204: 1 source package rows (perl-image-exiftool); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 7, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-22204
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-22204 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libimage-exiftool-perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-22204
gentoo normal CVE-2021-22204: 1 GLSA(s) (202407-27), 1 atom(s) (media-libs/exiftool); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-22204
ubuntu high CVE-2021-22204 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libimage-exiftool-perl), 9 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 6, not-affected 2, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-22204

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-22204

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
exiftool_project exiftool >= 7.44, < 12.24 cpe:2.3:a:exiftool_project:exiftool:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-22204

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/162558/ExifTool-DjVu-ANT-Perl-Injection.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164768/GitLab-Unauthenticated-Remote-ExifTool-Command-Injection.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164994/GitLab-13.10.2-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167038/ExifTool-12.23-Arbitrary-Code-Execution.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/09/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/10/5 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/exiftool/exiftool/commit/cf0f4e7dcd024ca99615bfd1102a841a25dde031#diff-fa0d652d10dbcd246e6b1df16c1e992931d3bb717a7e36157596b76bdadb3800 Patch
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22204.json Third Party Advisory
https://hackerone.com/reports/1154542 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/05/msg00018.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DDKDLJLBTBBR66OOPXSXCG2PQRM5KCZL/ Release Notes
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/F6UOBPU3LSHAPRRJNISNVXZ5DSUIALLV/ Release Notes
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/U4RF6PJCJ6NQOVJJJF6HN6BORUQVIXY6/ Release Notes
https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4910 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-22204 US Government Resource
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