Resource exhaustion in Exiv2

CVE-2021-32617

Exiv2 is a command-line utility and C++ library for reading, writing, deleting, and modifying the metadata of image files. An inefficient algorithm (quadratic complexity) was found in Exiv2 versions v0.27.3 and earlier. The inefficient algorithm is triggered when Exiv2 is used to write metadata into a crafted image file. An attacker could potentially exploit the vulnerability to cause a denial of service, if they can trick the victim into running Exiv2 on a crafted image file. The bug is fixed in version v0.27.4. Note that this bug is only triggered when _writing_ the metadata, which is a less frequently used Exiv2 operation than _reading_ the metadata. For example, to trigger the bug in the Exiv2 command-line application, you need to add an extra command-line argument such as `rm`.

Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.7 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.012 (66.2th percentile), scored .

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 66th percentile — 66.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2021-32617: held from 0.012 to 0.012.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.012 · newest: 0.012 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-32617?
CVE-2021-32617 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Exiv2, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 4.7/10. Published 2021-05-17.
How severe is CVE-2021-32617?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.7 out of 10.