What is CVE-2021-43266?

CVE-2021-43266 is a high-severity vulnerability in Mahara, classified under OS Command Injection. CVSS score: 7.3/10. Published 2021-11-02.

How severe is CVE-2021-43266?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.3 out of 10.

RCE in Mahara

CVE-2021-43266

In Mahara before 20.04.5, 20.10.3, 21.04.2, and 21.10.0, exporting collections via PDF export could lead to code execution via shell metacharacters in a collection name. Additional, in Mahara before 20.10.4, 21.04.3, and 21.10.1, exporting collections via PDF export could cause code execution

Vulnerability class: Command Injection (OS Command Injection)

Published 2021-11-02 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.3 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.013 (69.8th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 70th percentile — 69.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.013 · newest: 0.013 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Mahara

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-78 — OS Command Injection

References

bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1942903 (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php (Vendor Advisory)
mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php (Vendor Advisory)
bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1949527 (Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-43266?: CVE-2021-43266 is a high-severity vulnerability in Mahara, classified under OS Command Injection. CVSS score: 7.3/10. Published 2021-11-02.
How severe is CVE-2021-43266?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.3 out of 10.