An issue was discovered in klibc before 2.0.9. Multiple possible integer overflows in the cpio command on 32-bit systems may result in a buffer overflow or other security impact.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-31872 is rated High Risk (66.3/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.17%). Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 2025-11-21 | 1.40% | 1.17% | -0.22% |
| 2 | 2025-11-18 | 1.18% | 1.40% | +0.22% |
| 3 | 2025-07-29 | — | 1.18% | — |
Full EPSS history (16 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 7.5 | 2.0 | HIGH |
|
10.0 | 6.4 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
alpine
|
critical | CVE-2021-31872: 1 source package rows (klibc); 5 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 5, open 0. | https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-31872 |
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2021-31872 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (klibc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-31872 |
ubuntu
|
low | CVE-2021-31872 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (klibc), 9 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5, ignored 2, not-affected 2. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-31872 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| klibc_project | klibc | < 2.0.9 | cpe:2.3:a:klibc_project:klibc:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 9.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/04/30/1 | Mailing List Release Notes Third Party Advisory |
| https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/libs/klibc/klibc.git/commit/?id=9b1c91577aef7f2e72c3aa11a27749160bd278ff | Patch Third Party Advisory |
| https://kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/klibc/2.0/ | Release Notes Third Party Advisory |
| https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/06/msg00025.html | Third Party Advisory |
| https://lists.zytor.com/archives/klibc/2021-April/004593.html | Mailing List Release Notes Third Party Advisory |