CVE-2021-39191 | URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect') in mod_auth_openidc

Exp

mod_auth_openidc is an authentication/authorization module for the Apache 2.x HTTP server that functions as an OpenID Connect Relying Party, authenticating users against an OpenID Connect Provider. In versions prior to 2.4.9.4, the 3rd-party init SSO functionality of mod_auth_openidc was reported to be vulnerable to an open redirect attack by supplying a crafted URL in the `target_link_uri` parameter. A patch in version 2.4.9.4 made it so that the `OIDCRedirectURLsAllowed` setting must be applied to the `target_link_uri` parameter. There are no known workarounds aside from upgrading to a patched version.

Published: 2021-09-03 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-39191 is rated High Exploit Risk (60.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.75%). 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-2021-39191

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-39191

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 2026-06-27 1.61% 1.75% +0.14%
2 2026-06-15 0.33% 1.61% +1.28%
3 2025-12-30 0.33%

Full EPSS history (27 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-39191

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/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: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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 1.4 [email protected]
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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: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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 2.7 [email protected]
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-39191

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-39191

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-39191 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libapache2-mod-auth-openidc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-39191
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-39191
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-39191/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-39191 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libapache2-mod-auth-openidc), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, ignored 5, needed 2, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-39191

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-39191

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openidc mod_auth_openidc < 2.4.9.4 cpe:2.3:a:openidc:mod_auth_openidc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 36 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-39191

cvelogic Threat Intelligence