CVE-2021-3448

Exp

A flaw was found in dnsmasq in versions before 2.85. When configured to use a specific server for a given network interface, dnsmasq uses a fixed port while forwarding queries. An attacker on the network, able to find the outgoing port used by dnsmasq, only needs to guess the random transmission ID to forge a reply and get it accepted by dnsmasq. This flaw makes a DNS Cache Poisoning attack much easier. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity.

Published: 2021-04-08 Last update: 2025-12-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-3448 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2021-3448

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-3448

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 0.13% 0.03% -0.10%
2 2025-11-18 0.04% 0.13% +0.09%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-3448

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
 2.2 1.4 [email protected]
4.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
 2.2 1.4 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-3448

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3448

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2021-3448: 1 source package rows (dnsmasq); 30 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 20. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-3448
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-3448 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (dnsmasq), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-3448
gentoo low CVE-2021-3448: 1 GLSA(s) (202105-20), 1 atom(s) (net-dns/dnsmasq); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-3448
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3448
suse medium CVE-2021-3448 severity moderate: SUSE including 22 source package names (0.45.0.8.17.1:dnsmasq-2.86-7.14.1, dnsmasq, …), 63 product×package rows across 53 product lines (Container suse/sles/15.3/virt-launcher, HPE Helion OpenStack 8, … (53 product lines)): Fixed 61, Known Not Affected 2. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3448/
ubuntu low CVE-2021-3448 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (dnsmasq), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 14, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-3448

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3448

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
thekelleys dnsmasq < 2.85 cpe:2.3:a:thekelleys:dnsmasq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_network_function_cloud_native_environment 1.9.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_network_function_cloud_native_environment:1.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-3448

cvelogic Threat Intelligence