CVE-2021-46790

Exp

ntfsck in NTFS-3G through 2021.8.22 has a heap-based buffer overflow involving buffer+512*3-2. NOTE: the upstream position is that ntfsck is deprecated; however, it is shipped by some Linux distributions.

Published: 2022-05-02 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-46790 is rated Exploit Available (50.5/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). 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-2021-46790

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-46790

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 2025-11-21 0.07% 0.04% -0.03%
2 2025-11-18 0.03% 0.07% +0.04%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.03% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-46790

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:L/UI:N/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: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: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]
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
 3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-46790

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-46790

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2021-46790: 1 source package rows (ntfs-3g); 14 state rows across 8 repos (3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 7, open 7. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-46790
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-46790 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ntfs-3g), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-46790
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-46790
suse medium CVE-2021-46790 severity moderate: SUSE including 148 source package names (1.1.1.23.352:libntfs-3g87-2022.5.17-150000.3.11.1, 1.1.1.23.352:ntfs-3g-2022.5.17-150000.3.11.1, …), 177 product×package rows across 20 product lines (Container suse/sles/15.6/libguestfs-tools, Container suse/sles/15.7/libguestfs-tools, … (20 product lines)): Fixed 177. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-46790/
ubuntu low CVE-2021-46790 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ntfs-3g), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, impish, jammy, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-46790

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-46790

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
tuxera ntfs-3g <= 2021.8.22 cpe:2.3:a:tuxera:ntfs-3g:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 36 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-46790

cvelogic Threat Intelligence