CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2021-3521

MEDIUM
4.7
CVSS v3
NVD

Description

There is a flaw in RPM's signature functionality. OpenPGP subkeys are associated with a primary key via a "binding signature." RPM does not check the binding signature of subkeys prior to importing them. If an attacker is able to add or socially engineer another party to add a malicious subkey to a legitimate public key, RPM could wrongly trust a malicious signature. The greatest impact of this flaw is to data integrity. To exploit this flaw, an attacker must either compromise an RPM repository or convince an administrator to install an untrusted RPM or public key. It is strongly recommended to only use RPMs and public keys from trusted sources.

How to fix

Remediation Available
rpmDebian
Fixed in:4.18.0+dfsg-1CVE-2021-3521
Fixed in:4.18.0+dfsg-1CVE-2021-3521
Fixed in:4.18.0+dfsg-1CVE-2021-3521

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

Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityHigh
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityNone

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Exploit Intelligence

0.30%probability of exploitation in 30 days
22ndpercentile

Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 22% of all known CVEs.

References

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-347 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVESeverityCVSSEPSSExploitedFix
CVE-2018-16042Medium6.582%--
CVE-2025-59718Critical9.866%KEVFix
CVE-2025-25292Critical9.864%-Fix
CVE-2021-22160Critical9.853%-Fix
CVE-2013-3900Medium5.545%KEV-
CVE-2018-0114High7.543%-Fix
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Markdown

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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.