CVE-2021-32028

A flaw was found in postgresql. Using an INSERT ... ON CONFLICT ... DO UPDATE command on a purpose-crafted table, an authenticated database user could read arbitrary bytes of server memory. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality.

Published: 2021-10-11 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-32028 is rated Moderate Risk (50.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.61%). 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-2021-32028

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 2026-05-13 0.47% 0.61% +0.14%
2 2025-11-21 0.57% 0.47% -0.10%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.57% —

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-32028

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-32028

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-32028

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2021-32028: 4 source package rows (postgresql, postgresql13, postgresql14, postgresql15); 36 state rows across 13 repos (3.10-main, 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 21, open 15. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-32028
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-32028 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-2021-32028
gentoo high CVE-2021-32028: 1 GLSA(s) (202211-04), 1 atom(s) (dev-db/postgresql); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-32028
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-32028
suse medium CVE-2021-32028 severity moderate: SUSE including 610 source package names (10.19:libpq5-13.3-5.10.1, 10.19:postgresql10-10.17-8.35.1, …), 1615 product×package rows across 107 product lines (Container suse/postgres, Container trento/trento-db, … (107 product lines)): Fixed 805, Known Not Affected 579, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-32028/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-32028 medium priority: Ubuntu including 6 source packages (postgresql-10, postgresql-12, postgresql-13, postgresql-9.1, postgresql-9.3, postgresql-9.5), 96 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 83, released 7, ignored 2, needs-triage 2, deferred 1, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-32028

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-32028

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
postgresql postgresql >= 9.6.0, < 9.6.22 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 10.0, < 10.17 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 11.0, < 11.12 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 12.0, < 12.7 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
postgresql postgresql >= 13.0, < 13.3 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-32028

cvelogic Threat Intelligence