CVE-2021-36779 | Host operations allowed in privileged Longhorn managed pods

A Missing Authentication for Critical Function vulnerability in SUSE Longhorn allows any workload in the cluster to execute any binary present in the image on the host without authentication. This issue affects: SUSE Longhorn longhorn versions prior to 1.1.3; longhorn versions prior to 1.2.3.

Published: 2021-12-17 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-36779 is rated Moderate Risk (55.4/100): CVSS Critical severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.66%). 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-2021-36779

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 0.05% 0.66% +0.61%
2 2025-03-30 0.17% 0.05% -0.12%
3 2025-03-29 0.17%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-36779

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.6 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:A)
Attacker has to be nearby on the network—same office, same link, that vibe—not the whole wide internet.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
2.8 6.0 [email protected]
9.6 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:A)
Attacker has to be nearby on the network—same office, same link, that vibe—not the whole wide internet.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
2.8 6.0 [email protected]
8.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:A)
Requires access to an adjacent network segment.
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.
6.5 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-36779

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-36779

vendor priority summary link
suse critical https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-36779/

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-36779

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation longhorn < 1.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:longhorn:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation longhorn >= 1.2.0, < 1.2.3 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:longhorn:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-36779

cvelogic Threat Intelligence