What is CVE-2021-3401?

CVE-2021-3401 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Bitcoin, classified under Argument Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-02-04.

How severe is CVE-2021-3401?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2021-3401 known to be exploited?

3 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Vulnerability in Bitcoin

CVE-2021-3401

Bitcoin Core before 0.19.0 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code when another application unsafely passes the -platformpluginpath argument to the bitcoin-qt program, as demonstrated by an x-scheme-handler/bitcoin handler for a .desktop file or a web browser. NOTE: the discoverer states "I believe that this vulnerability cannot actually be exploited."

EPSS: 0.105 (95.3th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

Bitcoin
N/a — versions n/a

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-88 — Argument Injection

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

cve@mitre.org (Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_MISC)
cve@mitre.org (Patch, Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_MISC)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-3401?: CVE-2021-3401 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Bitcoin, classified under Argument Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-02-04.
How severe is CVE-2021-3401?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2021-3401 known to be exploited?: 3 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.