CVE-2021-42097

GNU Mailman before 2.1.35 may allow remote Privilege Escalation. A csrf_token value is not specific to a single user account. An attacker can obtain a value within the context of an unprivileged user account, and then use that value in a CSRF attack against an admin (e.g., for account takeover).

Published: 2021-10-20 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-42097 is rated Moderate Risk (55.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.29%). 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-2021-42097

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% 1.29% +0.68%
2 2026-03-04 0.45% 0.61% +0.17%
3 2026-03-01 — 0.45% —

Full EPSS history (49 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-42097

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.1 5.9 [email protected]
8.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 6.8 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-42097

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-42097

vendor priority summary link
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-42097
suse medium CVE-2021-42097 severity moderate: SUSE including 4 source package names (mailman-2.1.15-30.el7_9.2, mailman-2.1.29-12.module+el8.5.0+13211+e8845b76.1, mailman-2.1.35-bp152.7.6.1, mailman-2.1.35-lp152.7.6.1), 5 product×package rows across 5 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 7, SUSE Liberty Linux 7 LTSS, … (5 product lines)): Fixed 5. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-42097/
ubuntu high CVE-2021-42097 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (mailman), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bionic, focal, upstream, xenial): released 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-42097

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-42097

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu mailman < 2.1.35 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:mailman:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-42097

cvelogic Threat Intelligence