CVE-2021-45463

load_cache in GEGL before 0.4.34 allows shell expansion when a pathname in a constructed command line is not escaped or filtered. This is caused by use of the system library function for execution of the ImageMagick convert fallback in magick-load. NOTE: GEGL releases before 0.4.34 are used in GIMP releases before 2.10.30; however, this does not imply that GIMP builds enable the vulnerable feature.

Published: 2021-12-23 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-45463 is rated Moderate Risk (54.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.44%). 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-2021-45463

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 2.06% 1.44% -0.62%
2 2026-03-21 1.78% 2.06% +0.28%
3 2026-03-20 — 1.78% —

Full EPSS history (26 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-45463

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-2021-45463

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-45463

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2021-45463: 1 source package rows (gegl); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 7, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-45463
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-45463 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (gegl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-45463
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-45463
suse high CVE-2021-45463 severity important: SUSE including 27 source package names (gegl-0.2.0-19.el7_9.1, gegl-0.4.16-3.3.1, …), 69 product×package rows across 18 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 7, SUSE Liberty Linux 7 LTSS, … (18 product lines)): Fixed 69. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-45463/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-45463 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (gegl), 14 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 12, ignored 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-45463

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-45463

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gegl gegl < 0.4.34 cpe:2.3:a:gegl:gegl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gimp gimp < 2.10.30 cpe:2.3:a:gimp:gimp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-45463

URL Tags
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gegl/-/blob/master/docs/NEWS.adoc Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gegl/-/commit/bfce470f0f2f37968862129d5038b35429f2909b Patch Third Party Advisory
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gegl/-/issues/298 Vendor Advisory
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/commit/e8a31ba4f2ce7e6bc34882dc27c97fba993f5868 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CG635WJCNXHJM5U4BGMAAP4NK2YFTQXK/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZP5NDNOTMPI335FXE7VUPW7FXYTT7PYN/
https://www.gimp.org/news/2021/12/21/gimp-2-10-30-released/ Release Notes Vendor Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00021.html
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