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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2021-25786

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2023-08-11
  • WeaknessCWE-416

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

An issue was discovered in QPDF version 10.0.4, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted .pdf file to Pl_ASCII85Decoder::write parameter in libqpdf.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2023-08-1114:15CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD
Qpdf project qpdf
BranchAffectedFixed in
10.0= 10.0.4no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • qpdfUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 8.0.2-3~16.04.1+esm1
  • qpdfUbuntu:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 9.1.1-1ubuntu0.1
  • qpdfUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 8.0.2-3ubuntu0.1
  • qpdfopenEuler:22.03-LTS-SP2all versions · fixed in 8.4.2-4.oe2203sp2
  • qpdfopenEuler:22.03-LTS-SP1all versions · fixed in 8.4.2-4.oe2203sp1
  • qpdfopenEuler:22.03-LTSall versions · fixed in 8.4.2-4.oe2203sp2
  • qpdfopenEuler:20.03-LTS-SP3all versions · fixed in 8.4.2-4.oe1
  • qpdfopenEuler:20.03-LTS-SP1all versions · fixed in 8.4.2-4.oe1

4 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-25786 Red Hat Product Security10 known affected

    qpdf: Heap use after free in Pl_ASCII85Decoder::write

    qpdf as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 · qpdf-devel as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 · qpdf-doc as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 · +7 more

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-25786 · 4 productsOut of support scope
  2. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-25786 · 6 productsWill not fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Published
2023-08-11
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-f3pg-6m52-2j62

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-25786?

An issue was discovered in QPDF version 10.0.4, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted .pdf file to Pl_ASCII85Decoder::write parameter in libqpdf.

Is CVE-2021-25786 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2021-25786, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-25786?

CVE-2021-25786 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.3 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L.

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Sources for this record