CVE-2021-4456 | Net::CIDR versions before 0.24 for Perl mishandle leading zeros in IP CIDR addresses, which may have unspecified impact

Net::CIDR versions before 0.24 for Perl mishandle leading zeros in IP CIDR addresses, which may have unspecified impact. The functions `addr2cidr` and `cidrlookup` may return leading zeros in a CIDR string, which may in turn be parsed as octal numbers by subsequent users. In some cases an attacker may be able to leverage this to bypass access controls based on IP addresses. The documentation advises validating untrusted CIDR strings with the `cidrvalidate` function. However, this mitigation is optional and not enforced by default. In practice, users may call `addr2cidr` or `cidrlookup` with untrusted input and without validation, incorrectly assuming that this is safe.

Published: 2026-02-27 Last update: 2026-03-03 Assigner: 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e Source: 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-4456 is rated Low Risk (31.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2021-4456

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 2026-02-28 0.03% 0.05% +0.02%
2 2026-02-27 0.03%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-4456

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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: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: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.
3.9 2.5 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-4456

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-4456

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-4456 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libnet-cidr-perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-4456
suse high https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-4456/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-4456 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libnet-cidr-perl), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-4456

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-4456

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mrsam net::cidr < 0.24 cpe:2.3:a:mrsam:net\:\:cidr:*:*:*:*:*:perl:*:*

References for CVE-2021-4456

cvelogic Threat Intelligence