CVE-2021-3420

A flaw was found in newlib in versions prior to 4.0.0. Improper overflow validation in the memory allocation functions mEMALIGn, pvALLOc, nano_memalign, nano_valloc, nano_pvalloc could case an integer overflow, leading to an allocation of a small buffer and then to a heap-based buffer overflow.

Published: 2021-03-05 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-3420 is rated Moderate Risk (51/100): CVSS Critical severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). 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-2021-3420

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 2026-04-13 0.23% 0.14% -0.09%
2 2025-11-21 0.67% 0.23% -0.44%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.67% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-3420

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [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-2021-3420

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3420

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2021-3420: 1 source package rows (newlib); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 7, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-3420
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-3420 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (newlib, picolibc), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 9, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-3420
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-3420 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (gcc-snapshot, newlib), 28 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 14, ignored 7, needed 5, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-3420

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3420

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
newlib_project newlib < 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:newlib_project:newlib:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 32 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-3420

cvelogic Threat Intelligence