CVE-2021-4217

Description

A flaw was found in unzip. The vulnerability occurs due to improper handling of Unicode strings, which can lead to a null pointer dereference. This flaw allows an attacker to input a specially crafted zip file, leading to a crash or code execution.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score3.33.3N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Attack ComplexityLowLowN/A
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneN/A
User InteractionRequiredRequiredN/A
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityNoneNoneN/A
Integrity ImpactNoneNoneN/A
Availability ImpactLowLowN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation

C:N, I:N because as per attack scenario, the victim has to run malicious zip file (e.g. coming from an attacker). As a successful exploitation of this null pointer deference vulnerability can lead to high CPU/memory/disk usage. As such a hang/crash cannot be used to send/modify valuable information to/by a remote/local attacker. So, most likely it will cause a crash. Also, sane resource limits should prevent serious impacts on availability. Hence A:L.

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

NULL pointer dereferences usually result in the failure of the process unless exception handling (on some platforms) is available and implemented. Even when exception handling is being used, it can still be very difficult to return the software to a safe state of operation.

Integrity,Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory

In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution.

Frequently Asked Questions

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