CVE-2021-43523

Exp

In uClibc and uClibc-ng before 1.0.39, incorrect handling of special characters in domain names returned by DNS servers via gethostbyname, getaddrinfo, gethostbyaddr, and getnameinfo can lead to output of wrong hostnames (leading to domain hijacking) or injection into applications (leading to remote code execution, XSS, applications crashes, etc.). In other words, a validation step, which is expected in any stub resolver, does not occur.

Published: 2021-11-10 Last update: 2025-05-05 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-43523 is rated High Exploit Risk (82.7/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.89%). 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-2021-43523

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-43523

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 2026-05-10 3.82% 2.89% -0.94%
2 2026-04-06 2.96% 3.82% +0.86%
3 2026-03-24 — 2.96% —

Full EPSS history (26 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-43523

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.6 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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: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: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.
 2.8 6.0 [email protected]
9.6 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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: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: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.
 2.8 6.0 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-43523

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-43523

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2021-43523 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (uclibc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-43523
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-43523 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (uclibc, uclibc-ng), 6 status rows across 3 suites (trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 4, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-43523

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-43523

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
uclibc uclibc <= 0.9.33.2 cpe:2.3:a:uclibc:uclibc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
uclibc-ng_project uclibc-ng < 1.0.39 cpe:2.3:a:uclibc-ng_project:uclibc-ng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-43523

cvelogic Threat Intelligence