CVE-2021-43579

Exp

A stack-based buffer overflow in image_load_bmp() in HTMLDOC <= 1.9.13 results in remote code execution if the victim converts an HTML document linking to a crafted BMP file.

Published: 2022-01-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-43579 is rated High Exploit Risk (78.2/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.62%, 90th percentile). 3 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-2021-43579

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
52425 exploit_db edb 2025-09-16 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-43579

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 2026-04-01 5.26% 5.62% +0.36%
2 2026-02-16 4.97% 5.26% +0.28%
3 2025-11-24 — 4.97% —

Full EPSS history (25 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-43579

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
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-2021-43579

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-43579

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2021-43579 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (htmldoc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-43579
gentoo normal CVE-2021-43579: 1 GLSA(s) (202405-07), 1 atom(s) (app-text/htmldoc); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-43579
suse high CVE-2021-43579 severity important: SUSE including 4 source package names (htmldoc-1.8.27-170.4.6.1, htmldoc-1.8.28-9.1, htmldoc-1.9.12-bp153.2.6.1, htmldoc-1.9.14-1.1), 5 product×package rows across 5 product lines (SUSE Package Hub 12 SP1, SUSE Package Hub 15 SP3, … (5 product lines)): Fixed 5. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-43579/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-43579 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (htmldoc), 14 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, released 5, ignored 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-43579

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-43579

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
htmldoc_project htmldoc <= 1.9.13 cpe:2.3:a:htmldoc_project:htmldoc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-43579

cvelogic Threat Intelligence