CVE-2021-3612

An out-of-bounds memory write flaw was found in the Linux kernel's joystick devices subsystem in versions before 5.9-rc1, in the way the user calls ioctl JSIOCSBTNMAP. This flaw allows a local user to crash the system or possibly escalate their privileges on the system. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality, integrity, as well as system availability.

Published: 2021-07-09 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-3612 is rated Moderate Risk (48.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.69%). Mandatory action: 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-2021-3612

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 0.12% 0.69% +0.57%
2 2025-11-02 0.26% 0.12% -0.14%
3 2025-10-19 0.26%

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-3612

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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: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.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-3612

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3612

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-3612 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-3612
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3612
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3612/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-3612 medium priority: Ubuntu including 168 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner, …), 2165 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1681, released 217, not-affected 211, ignored 56. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-3612

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3612

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 5.9.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_binding_support_function 22.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_binding_support_function:22.1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_network_exposure_function 22.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_network_exposure_function:22.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_policy 22.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_policy:22.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp cloud_backup cpe:2.3:a:netapp:cloud_backup:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire_baseboard_management_controller_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:solidfire_baseboard_management_controller_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h300s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h300s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h500s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h500s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h700s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h700s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h300e_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h300e_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h500e_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h500e_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h700e_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h700e_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410c_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-3612

cvelogic Threat Intelligence