CVE-2021-3753

Exp

A race problem was seen in the vt_k_ioctl in drivers/tty/vt/vt_ioctl.c in the Linux kernel, which may cause an out of bounds read in vt as the write access to vc_mode is not protected by lock-in vt_ioctl (KDSETMDE). The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality.

Published: 2022-02-16 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-3753 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.36%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: 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-2021-3753

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-3753

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 0.01% 0.36% +0.35%
2 2025-11-21 0.07% 0.01% -0.06%
3 2025-11-18 0.07%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-3753

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.0 3.6 [email protected]
1.9 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
3.4 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-3753

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-3753

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-3753 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-2021-3753
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3753
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-3753/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-3753 medium priority: Ubuntu including 168 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner, …), 2116 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1640, released 225, not-affected 209, ignored 42. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-3753

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-3753

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 5.15 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_unified_manager cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_unified_manager:-:*:*:*:*:vmware_vsphere:*:*
netapp element_software cpe:2.3:a:netapp:element_software:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_management_node cpe:2.3:a:netapp:hci_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp bootstrap_os cpe:2.3:o:netapp:bootstrap_os:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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 h410s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410c_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-3753

cvelogic Threat Intelligence