CVE-2021-40083

Knot Resolver before 5.3.2 is prone to an assertion failure, triggerable by a remote attacker in an edge case (NSEC3 with too many iterations used for a positive wildcard proof).

Published: 2021-08-25 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-40083 is rated Moderate Risk (56.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.84%). 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-2021-40083

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 2025-11-21 0.56% 0.84% +0.28%
2 2025-11-18 0.84% 0.56% -0.28%
3 2025-07-10 — 0.84% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-40083

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-2021-40083

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-40083

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-40083 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (knot-resolver), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-40083
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-40083 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (knot-resolver), 10 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, ignored 2, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-40083

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-40083

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
nic knot_resolver < 5.3.2 cpe:2.3:a:nic:knot_resolver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-40083

cvelogic Threat Intelligence