CVE-2021-30481

Exp

Valve Steam before 2021-04-17, when a Source engine game is installed, allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary code because of a buffer overflow that occurs for a Steam invite after one click.

Published: 2021-04-10 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-30481 is rated High Exploit Risk (78.4/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 6.91%, 91th percentile). Core evidence: 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-30481

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-30481

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 2026-05-10 7.50% 6.91% -0.60%
2 2026-04-12 7.68% 7.50% -0.18%
3 2026-04-01 7.68%

Full EPSS history (25 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-30481

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
1.3 6.0 [email protected]
9.0 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/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: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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
2.3 6.0 [email protected]
6.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
6.8 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-30481

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-30481

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
valvesoftware steam_client <= 2021-04-10 cpe:2.3:a:valvesoftware:steam_client:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-30481

cvelogic Threat Intelligence