CVE-2021-38370

Exp

In Alpine before 2.25, untagged responses from an IMAP server are accepted before STARTTLS.

Published: 2021-08-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-38370 is rated Exploit Available (51.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.17%). 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-2021-38370

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-38370

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 2026-04-28 0.38% 0.17% -0.22%
2 2026-02-11 0.48% 0.38% -0.09%
3 2026-01-12 — 0.48% —

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-38370

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
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-2021-38370

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-38370

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2021-38370: 1 source package rows (alpine); 9 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 2. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-38370
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-38370 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (alpine), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 4, open 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-38370
gentoo low CVE-2021-38370: 1 GLSA(s) (202301-07), 1 atom(s) (mail-client/alpine); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-38370
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-38370 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (alpine), 14 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 5, not-affected 4, released 4, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-38370

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-38370

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
alpine_project alpine < 2.25 cpe:2.3:a:alpine_project:alpine:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-38370

URL Tags
https://alpine.x10host.com Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.gentoo.org/807613#c4 Third Party Advisory
https://nostarttls.secvuln.info Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202301-07 Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence