CVE-2021-39176 | Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime in detect-character-encoding

Exp

detect-character-encoding is a package for detecting character encoding using ICU. In detect-character-encoding v0.3.0 and earlier, allocated memory is not released. The problem has been patched in detect-character-encoding v0.3.1.

Published: 2021-08-31 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-39176 is rated High Exploit Risk (72.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.83%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.22% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2021-39176

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-39176

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 0.61% 1.83% +1.22%
2 2025-03-30 0.73% 0.61% -0.12%
3 2025-03-29 0.73%

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-39176

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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: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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-39176

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-39176

GHSA-5rwj-j5m3-3chj · Severity: high · Ecosystem: npm — Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime in detect-character-encoding

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-39176

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
detect-character-encoding_project detect-character-encoding < 0.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:detect-character-encoding_project:detect-character-encoding:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*

References for CVE-2021-39176

cvelogic Threat Intelligence