CVE-2021-31597

Exp

The xmlhttprequest-ssl package before 1.6.1 for Node.js disables SSL certificate validation by default, because rejectUnauthorized (when the property exists but is undefined) is considered to be false within the https.request function of Node.js. In other words, no certificate is ever rejected.

Published: 2021-04-22 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-31597 is rated High Exploit Risk (82/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.06%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.85% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2021-31597

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-31597

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% 2.06% +1.85%
2 2026-04-05 0.37% 0.20% -0.17%
3 2026-01-29 — 0.37% —

Full EPSS history (21 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-31597

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.4 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L 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: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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 5.5 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-31597

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-31597

GHSA-72mh-269x-7mh5 · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: npm — Improper Certificate Validation in xmlhttprequest-ssl

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-31597

vendor priority summary link
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-31597
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-31597 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (node-xmlhttprequest-ssl), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 11, needs-triage 3, ignored 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-31597

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-31597

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xmlhttprequest-ssl_project xmlhttprequest-ssl < 1.6.1 cpe:2.3:a:xmlhttprequest-ssl_project:xmlhttprequest-ssl:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*

References for CVE-2021-31597

cvelogic Threat Intelligence