CVE-2021-32842 | Path Traversal in SharpZipLib

Exp

SharpZipLib (or #ziplib) is a Zip, GZip, Tar and BZip2 library. Starting version 1.0.0 and prior to version 1.3.3, a check was added if the destination file is under a destination directory. However, it is not enforced that `_baseDirectory` ends with slash. If the _baseDirectory is not slash terminated like `/home/user/dir` it is possible to create a file with a name thats begins as the destination directory one level up from the directory, i.e. `/home/user/dir.sh`. Because of the file name and destination directory constraints, the arbitrary file creation impact is limited and depends on the use case. Version 1.3.3 fixed this vulnerability.

Published: 2022-01-26 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-32842 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.28%). Core evidence: 1 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-2021-32842

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-32842

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 2025-03-30 0.18% 0.28% +0.10%
2 2025-03-29 0.28% 0.18% -0.10%
3 2025-03-23 0.28%

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-32842

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.5 1.4 [email protected]
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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: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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/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:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-32842

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-32842

GHSA-mm6g-mmq6-53ff · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: nuget — Path Traversal in SharpZipLib

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-32842

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2021-32842 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (mono), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-32842
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-32842 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (mono), 14 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 8, ignored 6. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-32842

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-32842

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
sharpziplib_project sharpziplib >= 1.0.0, < 1.3.3 cpe:2.3:a:sharpziplib_project:sharpziplib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-32842

cvelogic Threat Intelligence