CVE-2021-3593

An invalid pointer initialization issue was found in the SLiRP networking implementation of QEMU. The flaw exists in the udp6_input() function and could occur while processing a udp packet that is smaller than the size of the 'udphdr' structure. This issue may lead to out-of-bounds read access or indirect host memory disclosure to the guest. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality. This flaw affects libslirp versions prior to 4.6.0.

Published: 2021-06-15 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-3593 is rated Low Risk (17.6/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.03%). Mandatory action: Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2021-3593

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 0.07% 0.03% -0.04%
2 2025-11-18 0.05% 0.07% +0.02%
3 2023-03-07 0.05%

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-3593

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.8 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/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: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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.0 1.4 [email protected]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-3593

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3593

vendor priority summary link
alpine low CVE-2021-3593: 1 source package rows (libslirp); 13 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 6. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-3593
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-3593 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (libslirp, qemu), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-3593
gentoo low CVE-2021-3593: 1 GLSA(s) (202107-44), 1 atom(s) (net-libs/libslirp); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-3593
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3593
suse low CVE-2021-3593 severity low: SUSE including 461 source package names (1.2.3-2.2.63:libslirp0-4.3.1-150300.11.1, 1.2.3-3.2.78:libslirp0-4.3.1-150300.11.1, …), 970 product×package rows across 70 product lines (Container rancher/elemental-teal-iso/5.4, Container rancher/elemental-teal-rt/5.4, … (70 product lines)): Fixed 634, Known Affected 225, Known Not Affected 111. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3593/
ubuntu low CVE-2021-3593 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (libslirp, qemu), 32 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 13, not-affected 12, DNE 2, needed 2, needs-triage 2, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-3593

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3593

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libslirp_project libslirp < 4.6.0 cpe:2.3:a:libslirp_project:libslirp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:advanced_virtualization:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-3593

cvelogic Threat Intelligence