CVE-2021-34431

In Eclipse Mosquitto version 1.6 to 2.0.10, if an authenticated client that had connected with MQTT v5 sent a crafted CONNECT message to the broker a memory leak would occur, which could be used to provide a DoS attack against the broker.

Published: 2021-07-22 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-34431 is rated Moderate Risk (48.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.11%). 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-2021-34431

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 0.37% 1.11% +0.74%
2 2025-12-28 0.30% 0.37% +0.07%
3 2025-12-27 — 0.30% —

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-34431

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:N/I:N/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: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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-34431

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-34431

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2021-34431: 1 source package rows (mosquitto); 17 state rows across 7 repos (3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 17. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-34431
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-34431 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (mosquitto), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-34431
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-34431 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (mosquitto), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 9, ignored 4, released 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-34431

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-34431

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
eclipse mosquitto >= 1.6, <= 2.0.10 cpe:2.3:a:eclipse:mosquitto:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-34431

URL Tags
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=573191 Mailing List Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence