CVE-2021-23214

When the server is configured to use trust authentication with a clientcert requirement or to use cert authentication, a man-in-the-middle attacker can inject arbitrary SQL queries when a connection is first established, despite the use of SSL certificate verification and encryption.

Published: 2022-03-04 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-23214 is rated Moderate Risk (61/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.90%). EPSS rose +1.70% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2021-23214

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 0.20% 1.90% +1.70%
2 2026-03-15 0.33% 0.20% -0.13%
3 2026-02-20 — 0.33% —

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-23214

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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: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: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.
 2.2 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-2021-23214

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-23214

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2021-23214: 5 source package rows (postgresql, postgresql12, postgresql13, postgresql14, postgresql15); 40 state rows across 12 repos (3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-community, 3.17-main, 3.18-community, 3.18-main, 3.19-community, 3.19-main, 3.20-community, 3.20-main, edge-community, edge-main); fixed 23, open 17. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-23214
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-23214 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (postgresql-13), 1 status rows across 1 suites (bullseye): resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-23214
gentoo high CVE-2021-23214: 1 GLSA(s) (202211-04), 1 atom(s) (dev-db/postgresql); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-23214
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-23214
suse high CVE-2021-23214 severity important: SUSE including 590 source package names (10.19:libpq5-14.1-5.6.1, 10.19:postgresql10-10.19-8.41.1, …), 1496 product×package rows across 78 product lines (Container suse/postgres, Container trento/trento-db, … (78 product lines)): Fixed 1264, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 1. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-23214/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-23214 medium priority: Ubuntu including 6 source packages (postgresql-10, postgresql-12, postgresql-13, postgresql-9.1, postgresql-9.3, postgresql-9.5), 90 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 78, released 8, ignored 2, deferred 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-23214

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-23214

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
postgresql postgresql < 9.6.24 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 10.0, < 10.19 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 11.0, < 11.14 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 12.0, < 12.9 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 13.0, < 13.5 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql 14.0 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:14.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat software_collections 1.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:software_collections:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-23214

cvelogic Threat Intelligence