CVE-2021-43781 | Permissions not properly checked in Invenio-Drafts-Resources

Exp

Invenio-Drafts-Resources is a submission/deposit module for Invenio, a software framework for research data management. Invenio-Drafts-Resources prior to versions 0.13.7 and 0.14.6 does not properly check permissions when a record is published. The vulnerability is exploitable in a default installation of InvenioRDM. An authenticated a user is able via REST API calls to publish draft records of other users if they know the record identifier and the draft validates (e.g. all require fields filled out). An attacker is not able to modify the data in the record, and thus e.g. *cannot* change a record from restricted to public. The problem is patched in Invenio-Drafts-Resources v0.13.7 and 0.14.6, which is part of InvenioRDM v6.0.1 and InvenioRDM v7.0 respectively.

Published: 2021-12-06 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-43781 is rated Exploit Available (55.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.19%). 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-2021-43781

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-43781

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 2026-04-29 0.05% 0.19% +0.14%
2 2023-03-07 0.89% 0.05% -0.83%
3 2022-04-01 0.89%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-43781

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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.
3.1 2.7 [email protected]
4.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 1.4 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-43781

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-43781

GHSA-xr38-w74q-r8jv · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: pip — Permissions not properly checked in Invenio-Drafts-Resources

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-43781

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
inveniosoftware invenio-drafts-resources < 0.13.7 cpe:2.3:a:inveniosoftware:invenio-drafts-resources:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
inveniosoftware invenio-drafts-resources >= 0.14.0, < 0.14.6 cpe:2.3:a:inveniosoftware:invenio-drafts-resources:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-43781

cvelogic Threat Intelligence