What is CVE-2021-43849?

CVE-2021-43849 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apple Iphone OS, classified under Reachable Assertion. CVSS score: 6.2/10. Published 2021-12-23.

How severe is CVE-2021-43849?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.2 out of 10.

Is CVE-2021-43849 known to be exploited?

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

Vulnerability in Apple Iphone OS

CVE-2021-43849

cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio is a plugin provides a single and simple interface for accessing fingerprint APIs on both Android 6+ and iOS. In versions prior to 5.0.1 The exported activity `de.niklasmerz.cordova.biometric.BiometricActivity` can cause the app to crash. This vulnerability occurred because the activity didn't handle the case where it is requested with invalid or empty data which results in a crash. Any third party app can constantly call this activity with no permission. A 3rd party app/attacker using event listener can continually stop the app from working and make the victim unable to open it. Version 5.0.1 of the cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio doesn't export the activity anymore and is no longer vulnerable. If you want to fix older versions change the attribute android:exported in plugin.xml to false. Please upgrade to version 5.0.1 as soon as possible.

Published 2021-12-23 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.2 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (24.0th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 24th percentile — 24.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Apple Iphone OS
Cordova Plugin Fingerprint All-In-One Project
Google Android
Niklasmerz Cordova-Plugin-Fingerprint-Aio — versions < 5.0.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-617 — Reachable Assertion

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

github.com/NiklasMerz/cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio/security/advisories/GHSA-7… (Third Party Advisory, Mitigation)
github.com/NiklasMerz/cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio/commit/27434a240f97f69fd93… (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
github.com/NiklasMerz/cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio/releases/tag/v5.0.1 (Third Party Advisory, Release Notes)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-43849?: CVE-2021-43849 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apple Iphone OS, classified under Reachable Assertion. CVSS score: 6.2/10. Published 2021-12-23.
How severe is CVE-2021-43849?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.2 out of 10.
Is CVE-2021-43849 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.