CVE-2021-21299
MEDIUMEPSS 91th pctlDescription
hyper is an open-source HTTP library for Rust (crates.io). In hyper from version 0.12.0 and before versions 0.13.10 and 0.14.3 there is a vulnerability that can enable a request smuggling attack. The HTTP server code had a flaw that incorrectly understands some requests with multiple transfer-encoding headers to have a chunked payload, when it should have been rejected as illegal. This combined with an upstream HTTP proxy that understands the request payload boundary differently can result in "request smuggling" or "desync attacks". To determine if vulnerable, all these things must be true: 1) Using hyper as an HTTP server (the client is not affected), 2) Using HTTP/1.1 (HTTP/2 does not use transfer-encoding), 3) Using a vulnerable HTTP proxy upstream to hyper. If an upstream proxy correctly rejects the illegal transfer-encoding headers, the desync attack cannot succeed. If there is no proxy upstream of hyper, hyper cannot start the desync attack, as the client will repair the headers before forwarding. This is fixed in versions 0.14.3 and 0.13.10. As a workaround one can take the following options: 1) Reject requests that contain a `transfer-encoding` header, 2) Ensure any upstream proxy handles `transfer-encoding` correctly.
How to fix
TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Exploit Intelligence
High risk: more likely to be exploited than 91% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-444 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2022-22536 | Critical | 10.0 | 98% | KEV | - |
| CVE-2025-61884 | High | 7.5 | 98% | KEV + Ransom | - |
| CVE-2020-9490 | High | 7.5 | 90% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2023-41265 | Critical | 9.6 | 84% | KEV + Ransom | - |
| CVE-2023-25690 | Critical | 9.8 | 84% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2022-32214 | Medium | 6.5 | 81% | - | Fix |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2021-21299?
Upgrade rust-hyper on debian 12 to 0.14.19-1 or later.
Is CVE-2021-21299 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2021-21299 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 4.8% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 91% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2021-21299?
CVE-2021-21299 has a CVSS v3 base score of 4.8, rated medium. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2021-21299 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for rust-hyper (Debian). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2024-11-21.